Our human ability to see things from different perspectives is very useful for learning and making decisions. Themes and names are powerful mechanisms for synthesising meaningful abstractions that give life to a new perspective.

Your simple, but rich, example is very illustrative of how we can make better decisions and plans when we adopt a global view, instead of a punctual perspective.

Usually, in non-trivial situations, prioritising stories on a one by one basis is a complex, difficult and sub-optimal process. When we link the stories to higher level objectives, we can achieve much better results: the stories act in synergy towards a well defined focus. The planned releases represent in fact a fast and secure path for launching your product.

Thanks for your inspiring post. I was missing this kind of thinking in my readings. It was a pleasant learning experience to me. I am glad I came to your blog.

Rafael Peixoto de Azevedo
http://sympriser.wordpress.com/