Glossary

User stories are a way of capturing product requirements in a concise and easy-to-understand format. They’re written from a user’s perspective, and you can use them to define your product’s features and functionality. User stories provide an easy mechanism for stakeholders to communicate their requirements to your development team.

User stories are typically written in the form of, "As a [user], I want [feature or goal] so that [a benefit or reason]." More on using this format is coming up.

A compelling user story can provide a clear, concise, and user-focused guideline for your product's development team. When creating a user story, a product manager focuses on the user's needs, their desired outcome and the feature that can deliver it, and the benefit of that feature to the user.

Here's a simple user story template:

"As a [user], I want [feature or goal], so that [benefit]."

1. Identify the user: Understand who will be using your product. This could be a generic term like 'user' or more specific like 'student,' 'teacher,' 'administrator,' etc.
2. Define the feature: What is the user trying to accomplish or the desired outcome? This should be a specific task or functionality that the user will interact with in your product.
3. Clarify the benefit: How does this feature benefit your user? This helps prioritize product features by their user value.

The best stories also include acceptance criteria, a set of conditions that specify requirements for story completion. It's a great way to ensure that the story will meet your user's expectations and needs when it’s implemented.

Consider following these tips for writing more effective and helpful user stories.

1. Identify your user's needs: Ask yourself what your user aims to achieve and how they will use your product to do so. Understanding your user's perspective helps you craft a story centered around their needs.
2. Keep it concise: A user story should be short and to the point to ensure your development team can quickly understand and act on the user's needs. Avoid unnecessary jargon and complicated terms.
3. Include acceptance criteria: Each user story should include acceptance criteria. This establishes a clear understanding of when the story meets the user’s expectations and is considered complete.
4. Communicate efficiently: User stories serve as a communication tool between stakeholders. They should be written in a simple, easy-to-understand format to ensure quick and efficient communication.
5. Identify potential problems: Writing user stories can help you identify potential issues early in the development process. This early detection can save both time and resources in the long run.

Effective user stories are essential for software and mobile app companies, and writing them requires a deep understanding of your customer's needs. Your ability to translate those needs into an actionable user story that then comes to life in-app to solve real user problems is powerful.

A well-written user story should be clear, concise, and understandable, while still including necessary details to ensure the product meets the customer's needs. User stories help create a better customer experience, reduce churn, and increase customer brand loyalty for your product.