How to Write a Clear and Concise User Story

What is an User Story?

Here are some definitions you can find from Google:

• "The purpose of a user story is?to articulate how a piece of work will deliver a particular value back to the customer." - From the people who made Jira
• "User?stories help ensure your team is all on the same page when collaborating on content." - GatherContent
• "The main purpose of user stories is?to simplify the essential core of the project and the fundamentals requirements needed to make it usable." - Kissflow
• "In software development and product management, a user story is?an informal, natural language description of one or more features of a software system." - Visual Paradigm

If this is the first time you've heard of a user story, I'm sure Google was your first port of call. However, like some of you, I was equally baffled by the way professionals define it.

The information I found on the internet is confusing me more than educating me. It is often incoherent, long-winded, and filled with Agile jargon to the point of sounding almost cultish.

I hate fluff.

In my view, a user story is a way to write a concise description of a feature or function that a user will need to achieve a desired outcome.

A user story should be ideally structured as such:

As a [type of user], I want to [action], so that [outcome].

Example 1:

User Persona: Restaurant Customer

Job to be done: Eat a Steak

User Story:

As a Customer, I want to have a steak knife, so that I can cut my steak

User Persona: Restaurant Chef

Job to be done: Cook a Steak

User Story:

As a Chef, I want to use a meat thermometer, so that I can cook a steak to the right doneness.

In a nutshell:

Writing a user story takes practice. It is like Math but it is not Rocket Science.

1. Just do it. No one writes perfect user stories. It is ok to make mistakes
2. Be clear on the action you want. Only ONE action.
3. Be concise and focus on the outcome. Only ONE outcome.