User Story Mapping - David-Lennuk/Buketov_Python GitHub Wiki

1. User Story Mapping: Principles and Steps

1.1 Introduction

User story mapping is a visual exercise that helps product managers and development teams define the work that creates the best experience for users. It facilitates a deeper understanding of the customers and guides teams in prioritizing work more effectively. Software leader Jeff Patton is often associated with the development of user story mapping and its extensive knowledge sharing.

In user story mapping, a dynamic overview is created of the typical user's interactions with the product, assessing which steps offer the greatest benefits to the user, and setting priorities for the next steps in development. The focus is on desired customer outcomes, not just the development output or feature specifications.

In agile organizations, user story mapping provides an alternative to simply creating a list of work items or using long requirements documents.

2. User Story Mapping: Format and Example

User story mapping relies on the concept of user stories – these describe requirements from the perspective of user value. It helps validate and create a shared understanding of the steps required to create a user-favorite product. When writing user stories, the focus should be on capturing business value and ensuring that the stories are executable during the development iteration (usually a sprint).

Example format for a user story:

“As a [user type], I want to [action] so that [benefit].”

This format helps focus on product interactions from the user’s perspective.

3. Benefits of User Story Mapping

User story mapping helps simplify the creation of user experiences that delight customers. When performed correctly, it offers the following benefits:

3.1 Focus on User Value

User story mapping visualizes the product from the user’s perspective. The resulting map helps understand how users experience the product and identify which efforts lead to the best results. This supports an "outside-in" approach to product development planning.

3.2 Prioritizing the Right Work

Creating a holistic view of all the tasks required to deliver a complete product experience (CPE) helps product managers decide what is most important. It also allows work to be broken into iterations and releases, leaving less valuable tasks aside.

3.3 Clear and Optimal Requirements Creation

User story mapping enables stronger user stories by providing a visual overview of how larger work units break down into smaller tasks. It also shows how different work units fit together.

3.4 Early and Frequent Delivery of Value

Mapping helps organize work into iterations and releases based on the value they deliver to users. Focusing on the most important tasks means quicker delivery of greater value, early feedback from customers, and rapid learning about which product features are most valuable.

3.5 Identifying Risks and Dependencies

Mapping user interactions with the product provides insight into potential bottlenecks, risks, and dependencies that need to be addressed to successfully deliver the product.

3.6 Creating Team Alignment

The user story mapping process provides a shared view of the customer experience and the work required to improve it. This exercise fosters discussions that lead to a common understanding of what to build, when, and why.

4. Who Should Participate in User Story Mapping?

User story mapping is a collaborative exercise that helps cross-functional teams unite around a common goal: building a product that is better tomorrow than today. Therefore, product managers should involve everyone whose work contributes to delivering greater customer value.

Since user story mapping requires a holistic view of the product, it is important to include team members who contribute to creating the complete product experience (CPE). These may include representatives from the following areas:

Engineering Developers and technical specialists responsible for building product functionality.

UX/Design Designers and UX specialists creating intuitive and user-friendly experiences.

Product Management Product managers responsible for the product vision and priorities.

Sales Sales teams who understand customer needs and help identify market trends.

Marketing Marketing professionals ensuring the right message reaches the right users.

Customer Support Support teams in close contact with users and understanding their problems and desires.

Operations/IT Specialists who ensure the technical infrastructure and systems function properly.

Finance Financial analysts who assess the project's profitability and manage the budget.

Legal Legal experts who monitor regulatory compliance and ensure contract validity.

Such diverse participation ensures a better understanding of customer needs and forms a foundation for more effective team collaboration. Involving the team in the mapping process helps achieve a common goal and improve product planning.

5. 6 Steps for User Story Mapping

User story mapping begins with deciding what tool to use for the mapping. It can be a simple physical tool, such as a wall or whiteboard with sticky notes, or a digital tool. Regardless of the tool, the following steps offer a solid framework for user story mapping.

5.1 Step 1: Define the Problem

What problem does your product solve for customers? What task does it help them complete? A goal-oriented approach is critical to mapping out the subsequent work and ensuring it focuses on the customer’s goal. This is true even when improving an existing product. Use the classic user story format:

“As a [user type], I want to [action], so that [benefit].”

This helps think about product interactions from the user’s perspective.

Example: The "job-to-be-done" template defines the functional task for which customers "hire" your product — in this case, tracking daily workouts in a mobile app. Use this template to complete the first step.

5.2 Step 2: Understand the Product Users

Who is your product’s target audience? Likely, there are more than one group. Different audiences may have distinct goals and ways of interacting with your product. Create a set of user personas so everyone understands who makes up the target audience. Then create stories from their perspective. This prevents wasted effort on edge cases that don’t apply to your target audience.

Example: This template defines three different target groups among fitness app users based on their skills, goals, behaviors, problems, and needs. Use this user persona template to complete the second step.

5.3 Step 3: Map User Activities and Then Their User Stories

All users likely interact with the product through a sequence of common activities. These activities — also called themes or features — form the main structure of the user story map. These are the stories at the top of the map.

Once the core structure is in place and the main themes are defined, each activity or theme can be broken down into epics and user stories.

Example: The main theme at the top represents what the user ultimately wants to do and is arranged in logical order. Below are epics and user stories — these help organize and further break down specific user activities within each theme.

5.4 Step 4: Workflow and Prioritization

Once the higher-level themes and detailed user stories are in place, the next step is to prioritize the stories. Stack the stories vertically, placing the most important ones at the top. Then map out how users move through the product — typically from left to right. If multiple personas were defined in step two, you may want to map different scenarios for each persona. Stacking stories helps decide which stories are important and which are less crucial for delivering a delightful experience to the target audience.

5.5 Step 5: Identify Gaps, Dependencies, Technical Requirements, and Alternatives

The user story map helps anticipate potential issues that may slow down development later, such as bottlenecks, dependencies, requirements, or missing data and capabilities. Identifying these details before design or development begins helps improve usability and better meet user needs.

5.6 Step 6: Sprint and Release Planning

The next step is to turn the visual exercise into real work. Once the stories are prioritized from top to bottom, you can visualize the work that delivers the most value in the shortest time, grouping the stories into development sprints and product releases.

Create horizontal “slices” on the map that group stories by priority within each major user activity. Note: this doesn't mean identifying only the minimum viable product (MVP) requirements. Rather, the focus is on the most important work needed to create a delightful customer experience.

Example: Looking closely at the previous user story map example, you’ll see that the first release includes the highest-priority user stories for each epic (e.g., "Add marketplace to the app navigation" and "Search product category" under the epic "Opening the app").

6. Task: Create a User Story Map

Task Objective:

Create a user story map for a hypothetical product to learn how to define problems, tasks, and development stages that focus on user needs.

Scenario:

You work on a development team and are tasked with creating a product for tracking personal finances. This product helps users monitor their spending and save money. Your task is to create a user story map that will help organize this project more effectively.

Instructions:

1. Define the problem and product goal.

Example:

• Problem: People don’t know where their money goes and can't save.

• Goal: Create an app that helps track spending and set financial goals.

2. Create two user personas.

• Describe who will use the product.

• Define their goals, problems, and behaviors.

Example:

• Persona 1: Name: Anna, 28, Freelancer. Problem: Doesn't know how to budget and regularly spends more than she earns. Goal: Wants to know how much she’s spending on entertainment and save for a trip.

• Persona 2: Name: Ivan, 35, Office Worker. Problem: Forgets to pay bills on time. Goal: Wants to set automatic reminders to pay bills on time.

3. Define the main user activities (themes).

Example:

• Entering expenses.

• Viewing spending reports.

• Setting financial goals.

4. Break activities into user stories.

• Write stories in the format:

“As a [user type], I want to [action], so that [result/benefit].”

Example:

• As a freelancer, I want to see a graph of my expenses, so I can understand where I’m spending most.

• As an office worker, I want to get bill payment reminders so I can avoid late fees.

5. Set priorities for the stories.

• Place the most important stories at the top of the list.

• Mark which stories should be done first and which can wait.

6. Break down the work into sprints.

• Sprint 1: Build core features (e.g., entering expenses).

• Sprint 2: Add reports.

• Sprint 3: Implement reminders.