Every team feels rewarded and inspired after creating a successful product or implementing a new feature. But not so if the development team is asked to write long documents pertaining to product requirements that have inflexible guidelines. The traditional development methods did exactly this as they heavily depended on a complete set of predetermined requirements for every feature of the product or service. This meant teams were bound by these pre-decided requirements and did not have the flexibility to make adjustments or changes along the way on the basis of customer feedback or real-time data. Then came the Agile methodologies of project management. When people started using Agile methodology, they found its approach was very user-centered. The focus shifted entirely from just coding and designing to delivering maximum value to the end-user and other Stakeholders. This is how the idea of customer-centric User Stories was introduced. 

What is a User Story?

In simpler terms, a User Story is a casual general description of a particular feature of the product written from the point of view of the end-user. The aim is to communicate how the customer will get value from this feature or what the end-user expects to get from this feature. In Agile methodology, a User Story is one of its fundamental elements. A User Story is the smallest part of the work to be done in the Scrum framework that carries some value that would be delivered to the end-user or the customer during a sprint. The customer or end-user can be both internal and external. It is a very brief description of the product feature usually written in one or two sentences. User Stories are normally written by the Product Owner or the Product Manager and later shared with Developers. They are written in a simple language and no heavy technical vocabulary is used in writing them. The purpose is that everyone concerned should be able to understand them and not just developers. 

The development work in Agile gets shape and meaning from User Stories and they also provide epics, tasks, and themes. A major benefit of User Stories is that since they are written from the user's point of view, the Developers get the right perspective of the value a particular feature will provide to the customer and it does not focus only on the functionality of the feature. So, a User Story aims to put the end-users at the center of all discussions and understand the functionality of the feature from their perspective. The criteria for great User Stories were set by Bill Wake and are known in abbreviated form as INVEST. 

The long form of INVEST is:

I for Independent: One User Story is independent of others so changes in one User Story do not have any impact on other User Stories, so they can be developed in any order.

N for Negotiable: The workflow is not rigid. The development team can decide how to apply User Stories.

V for Value: Every User Story is written to provide some value to the customer.

E for Estimable: The time to be taken for developing a User Story can be estimated easily.

S for Small: As said earlier, it is the smallest part of the work to be done. So, a User Story should be small enough that it can be completed in one sprint including coding, designing, and testing.

T for Testable: And finally, the User Story should be testable which means there have to be clearly laid out acceptance criteria to test if it has been implemented properly.

A set of User Stories put together also forms a larger Agile framework like epics.

User Story template

A User Story template is a general format or a simple formula used for writing User Stories through which you can include the main information about the User Story. It provides the necessary context to the Agile development team. The User Story template expresses the "who", "why", and "what" pertaining to an item of Agile development. A User Story template helps you clearly understand what value a particular feature holds for your customer. The most common format used as a User Story template is "As a (user), I want to (capability), so that (receive the benefit). This is very crisp and simple and can be written easily. You can apply such a template to almost every type of product and even to a particular user type within a product. Let us understand this template in detail.

As a (user): The user is the one for whom the product is being created. A user is a person and you need to know and understand that person well. How that person thinks, acts, or works. This will help you in understanding the next part of the template.

I want to (capability): This describes the expectation of the user from the feature sought to be developed. This is the user goal that you are trying to achieve so a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve is required.

So that (receive the benefit): This is the crux of the matter. What actual benefit the user is trying to derive from this particular feature? Or what is the problem for which the user is looking for a solution? 

This way the Developers know for whom it is developing, and what is the context or expectation. The team knows what they are trying to achieve and finally, it knows what benefit or solution it is supposed to provide to the user. 

User Story examples

You can write multiple User Stories. In fact, it is encouraged. To understand better what a User Story is, we provide some examples of User Stories for you.

• As a new credit card user, I want to understand all its features, so that I can enjoy all its benefits.
• As a data administrator, I want to merge all the data received from different sources, so that report-making becomes easy for me.
• As a team leader, I want to get automatic alerts whenever my team is stuck somewhere so that I can offer help immediately. 
• As a new user, I want to sign in with my Google account, so that I don't have to juggle multiple accounts.
• As a new subscriber to this service, I want to be guided through all its features, so that I am able to use them all.
• As an HR manager, I want to see the daily attendance of all employees at a glance, so that I can keep track of their punctuality.
• As a regular visitor to your website, I want to get alerts whenever a new product is introduced or added so that I can review it.
• As a shop owner, I want to have a correct inventory of material in my shop, so that I can know the exact reorder quantity.
• As a user of this service, I want to get notifications on my mobile, so that I can keep myself updated even when I am on the move.
• As a frequent traveler, I want to have a route map on my mobile every time I travel, so that I can navigate easily.

These are some examples of User Stories. You can see, in every story, a user either wants a solution or some new feature that would make their life easy. But the question is why should we write User Stories? What are their benefits? Let us see that also.

Benefits of User Stories

Your focus stays on creating business value helping you create a product that is useful and beneficial to the end user.

Every User Story carries minimal information, so the Developes can use their creativity in arriving at the best solution for implementing a User Story. This way, User Stories offer flexibility to the Developers as they don't have to follow a rigid process documented before starting the work. They are free to innovate and are not bound to a fixed solution.

It is always easier to work with small segments of work rather than big complicated tasks. So, working with small test estimable User Stories. This allows the development team to focus on small new features and updates instead of going for an all-at-once way of working. The team sees the forward movement in the Product Backlog and that keeps it motivated. This makes the whole project a lot more manageable.

Every completion of User Stories gives a sense of achievement to the Developers and they feel inspired to put in more effort.

As User Stories are user-centric, teams are able to focus on what is most important: the user. So, their efforts are also centered around creating the features that are most useful to the user. Besides, when updates come in smaller segments, teams are able to respond more swiftly to user expectations or any desired changes, and that too in real-time. Ultimately, the aim of a User Story is to enable the teams to know the user's wants and needs from the asked-for product or service.

In conclusion, we can say that User Stories form an essential part of the Agile development process that continues for the whole product development cycle. They make it easy for your team to focus on the most vital element of the whole product development exercise i.e. the end-user. A correctly and skillfully written User Story will not only bring clarity to the development team but will also go a long way in helping to create a product or service that would bring customer satisfaction and business value to you.   

Simpliaxis is one of the leading professional certification training providers in the world offering multiple courses related to Agile methodologies. We offer numerous Agile related courses such as Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)® Certification Training, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)® Certification Training, Certified Scrum Developer (CSD) Certification Training, Agile and Scrum Training, PMI-ACP® Certification Training, Professional Scrum with Kanban™ (PSK) Training, Certified Scrum Professional® - Product Owner (CSP®-PO) Certification Training, Agile Sales Management Training, Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) Training  and much more. Simpliaxis delivers training to both individuals and corporate groups through instructor-led classroom and online virtual sessions.