What Is and How to Write a Feature, Epic and User Story?
Since the rise of the Agile Era, putting the user in the middle of the production definition process has become the standard for almost companies. User stories are one of the basic edifice blocks that assist us keep the user in heed while defining the product and its features. In this article, we explore the structure of user story templates, means to organize them, and how to address best practices and implementations for defining your product in a user-axial arroyo.
User stories: the building blocks of Epics and Themes
To understand user stories and their purpose, we must start ascertain the universe in which they exist. The mutual practice of grouping your product definitions is this: User stories are grouped into Epics, and Epics are grouped into Themes. Each entity serves its purpose:
User stories: Short, meaty descriptions illustrating a user need and desired outcome.
Epics: Larger bodies of piece of work which group related user stories together.
Themes: A unifying idea, helping to categorize and link Epics into broader focus areas.
These closely interrelated elements allow product managers and the organization at large to clearly identify, group, and manage product features efficiently and effectively. And it all starts with the humble user story.
User stories are simplified, non-technical descriptors written from the user perspective, allowing you to ascertain a singled-out benefit to a user. A good user story facilitates the dialogue between production managers and engineering teams past setting the stage for what's to come and by encouraging direct collaboration between stakeholders. In guild to efficiently communicate product improvements, cross-functional teams have to exist on the same page when it comes to understanding the motivation behind pursuing a particular characteristic. Framing user stories using concise, elementary language allows everyone involved to focus on the intention of the feature creation and keep the spotlight on solving problems for existent users.
One of the most common methods of building a user story follows this simple construction:
Hither are a few examples of what a typical user story looks like using the formula above:
- "As a college student, I would similar to see the total price of my cart equally I add items, so I tin can stick to my budget" – This user story will likely event in a dynamic cart summary near the shopping cart icon
- "Equally a busy director, I would like to come across the social updates from my family unit and close friends first, so I tin spend my time efficiently – This user story will prioritize the news feed into relevant segments
- "As a frequent traveler, I would similar to get my flight details added to my calendar then that I can easily plan ahead" – This user story will add together a characteristic of automatically syncing booking info with the calendar.
But the truth of it is, like nigh things in life, user stories don't come in only ane shape– variations of the classic user story accept long been in employ by product managers, and they all take a identify at the table, depending on what you're trying to achieve and communicate.
Best practices for creating and implementing user stories into your product definition
Considering there is no one gilded-standard template exclusively defining the best way of creating user stories, it's a adept idea to familiarize yourself with some of the options available then that y'all tin then refine the all-time methodology for you. Doing so will help y'all find your voice as a product manager and help streamline advice with developers and other stakeholders in your organization.
You can enquiry and explore various user story templates on your own, or, if you're working in a complete product management tool like Craft.io, but tap into the spec template library to either employ 1 of the preset templates or create your own. Developing a custom template becomes invaluable when there are multiple product managers in your organisation and a mutual linguistic communication needs to be developed when communicating beyond teams consistently.
Let'due south have a wait at a few user story templates that will help you tell the user story finer. For example, if y'all were a product director creating user stories under the epic named Pricing, here'due south how you could structure a number of different user stories using Craft.io's preset templates:
- As a / I would like to / Then I can
This popular user story structure allows you to succinctly clear who you're building this feature for, what the user's intent is, and the overall benefit they're trying to attain. Go along this high-level, gratuitous of jargon, and always empathetic of the user feel.
The 'As a / I would similar to / So I can' user story template tin can be instantly loaded through Craft.io's Spec Editor. - A/B Examination
The A/B Test template allows you to present a hypothesis aslope a suggested solution/change (the variant) and the current state of affairs (the base), equally well as the metrics and success criteria required to measure its performance. In this example, the PM explores testing a new graphic chemical element to help increment premium subscriptions, thereby increasing the MRR (Monthly Recurring Acquirement).
Arts and crafts.io'due south Spec Editor allows you to format your user story template based on your preferences. - Trouble / Solution
In this template, the focus is on dividing the user story into two segments: the trouble to solve and the proposed solution. Additionally, PMs tin more easily justify their decision-making process across the organization once they've developed a polished understanding of precisely the problem at hand.
The Problem / Solution template is another quick and easy template you can instantly load to explore user needs and prospective solutions. - Groundwork / Clarification / Requirements
Use this template to add together a little more context and color to your user story. The Groundwork / Description / Requirements spec template also includes a department for outlining what defines the feature as consummate, making clear to the development team members the final outcomes expected.
- Finally, once yous've tried and tested the templates to a higher place, or, if yous've already refined a user story format that works for your squad, you can create and save your ain custom spec template in Craft.io. This allows you to create and access a user story structure that resonates with your stakeholders and keeps everyone on the aforementioned folio.
Regardless of which user story template yous choose to utilise, consider using the INVEST framework to assistance you produce high-quality user stories every time. The criteria outlined by the INVEST acronym ensures the user story is as qualified and robust as it can be before you proceed into making it an actionable feature. INVEST invites y'all to ask:
- "I" ndependent — Does the story stand-alone and is it contained of other user stories?
- "N" egotiable — Does the user story avoid restrictive language, adopt a flexible approach, and invite open conversations between the production manager, development team, and other stakeholders?
- "V" aluable — Does the user story add value to the production?
- "E" stimable — Does the user story provide enough information so that the evolution squad can reasonably estimate its complexity?
- "Southward" mall — Is the user story small enough to fit into one dart, therefore facilitating faster deployment and feedback from customers?
- "T" estable — Will you be able to decide whether the user story components achieve a status of 'DONE'?
How is writing a user story different from writing specs and requirements?
Simply put, a user story is outcome orientated (and focuses on the why), while a spec or requirement is output orientated (and focuses on the how). Both are necessary for the development and product of a feature, simply they are neither interchangeable nor synonymous. The user story functions every bit an explanatory touchpoint: information technology is written from the user perspective and allows designers and developers to relate to the task and understand the reasoning behind information technology. On the other hand, the detailed, often technical nature of product specs and requirements focuses on the organisation requirements and explores how designers, developers, and engineers will bring the feature to life.
The beauty of user stories is that they leave room for give-and-take and improvements every bit they happen before anybody becomes occupied with technicalities and the finer details. Their format enables teams to better sympathise the chore and how is it relates to the other parts of the product. For collaborative teams, this sparks new ideas and discussions relating to the user stories, ultimately contributing to the improvement of solutions.
Finally, once you lot've mastered creating user stories and have optimized your ideal user story template, it'southward time to plug them into story mapping. Story mapping indexes and organizes user stories visually using a 'gummy-note' interface, allowing you to build a complete flick of how backlog items relate to user needs.
Craft.io tin can automatically pull your user stories into a Story Mapping board, allowing you to effortlessly visualize how prospective features could come up together.
User stories help you lot focus on the problem, identify it, and so apply the correct solution. Their open up format allows discussion and creates room for cantankerous-company optimization and collaboration. Whether your preference is to employ <As a / I would like to / And so I tin can> or you're more at ease with <Background / Clarification / Requirements> as the ground for your user story, the commuter should be the same: to use the template that will best let your teams to interact, drive artistic solutions, and maintain momentum. By clearly articulating user-axial needs in a well-thought-out template, user stories enable production managers to shift from writing requirements to discussing them and ultimately to deploy considered, compelling products.
Ready to create stellar user stories using Craft.io 's spec templates? Sign up to a complimentary 14-day trial and discover how a tool created exclusively for PMs tin increase your productivity and efficiency.
Ready to build groovy products?
Source: https://craft.io/blog/writing-epic-user-stories.html