Discovering the Power of User Stories: A Quick Guide to Improving Your Product Development Process

Let's take a look at a design method that is both simple and powerful, and once learned can be applied to all of your projects. This approach improves collaboration among stakeholders and prioritizes the needs of the users. In Agile, user stories are an essential element that helps bring these needs to life.

While there are plenty of online resources about the relationship between UX and Agile, many of them focus on the challenges of working together. It's true that collaboration between different disciplines can be difficult, but today we'll explore a positive approach. User stories are a quick and straightforward way to address many of these challenges in an Agile team.

As a type of user (who), I want to action (what) so that benefit (why).

Using this format is a clear way to ensure your user story is communicating everything you need to know about the persona. The user stories you create will be very valuable as you start designing your product. User stories can also serve as a “checklist” to make sure you’re addressing and solving the key problems your users might face when engaging with your product.?

The best practice for user stories is to keep them short, impactful, and to the point, with clear action and benefits.

Practice using this format to create user stories related to the dog walker app you've been learning about.

As a frequent traveler, I want to hire a consistent dog walker so that I can feel comfortable about the safety of my pets while I'm on vacation.

As a dog owner, I want to trust my dog walker so I can hire them for regular dog walks.

As a busy executive, I want to trust that dog walkers won't stand me up so I can work worry-free.

As an indecisive student, I want to try many walkers so I can pick one for regular walks.

As a mother of two, I want to limit the amount of access to my home so I can keep my family safe.

As a former police officer, I want to track my dog walker so I am comfortable with the safety of my pets.

As a widowed executive, I want to find a permanent dog walker so my pets get the care they deserve.

Keeping these user stories in mind can inform the designs you’ll create. For example, in the dog walker app, users should have the ability to request a date and time for a dog walker, select a specific dog walker, and maybe even read the background checks of dog walkers, since those were all mentioned in our user stories.

Different users have different needs, so be sure to practice empathy and keep their unique needs in mind when writing user stories. To help you write the most effective user stories, check out this article from Interaction Design Foundation about how to write user stories.