When is a user story branch typically created?

A user story branch is typically created when development begins for a specific user story. This practice allows the development team to work on the user story in isolation from other tasks, minimizing the risk of introducing errors or conflicts with ongoing work on other features or stories. By creating a branch at this point, developers can focus on specific tasks related to the user story, ensuring that changes are neatly contained and can be tested independently before being merged back into the main codebase.

Creating a branch after a project starts may not allow for the granularity needed to track changes specific to a user story. Likewise, setting up branches when a feature is complete would not align with the agile principle of iterating on smaller pieces of functionality as they are developed. Lastly, creating branches after release stabilization does not facilitate ongoing development and detracts from the agile approach that emphasizes continuous delivery and incremental updates. This approach allows for a more organized workflow and better version control, everything being crucial for efficient development cycles.