User Stories in Interaction Design

IFI7156 Interaction Design Methods

Cohn, M. (2004). User stories applied: For agile software development. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley.

What are user stories?

• User stories are simple, clear and brief descriptions of functionality that will be valuable for real users

• User stories are typically used in agile software development methods such as XP and Scrum

• User stories build a bridge between the users, designers and the developers

User story format

"As a <role>, I want <goal/desire>”

Example:

Search for customers

As a user, I want to search for my customers by their first and last names.

Good user story

• Independent

• Negotiable

• Valuable to users and customers

• Estimatable

• Small

• Testable

(Cohn, 2004)

Other user story formats

• "As a <role>, I want <goal/desire> so that <benefit>”

• "In order to <receive benefit> as a <role>, I want <goal/desire>”

• "As <who> <when> <where>, I <what> because <why>.”

• "As a <role>, I can <action with system> so that <external benefit>"

(Wikipedia, 2015)

Examples

Example user stories: New Tweet window

1. As a user, I want to write a tweet and post it to Twitter

2. As a user, I want to see how many characters I have left from allowed tweet length

3. As a user, I want to browse for a photo and add to my tweet

4. As a user, I want to change the Twitter account I am using for posting a tweet

Guidelines

Guidelines

• Start with goal stories

• Break large stories into smaller pieces

• Write closed stories (that finish with completed goal)

• Keep the UI out as long as possible

• Include user roles in the stories

• Write for one user

• Write in active voice

(Cohn, 2004)

Apps for writing user stories

(Cohn, 2011)

Development process

Writing user stories

• User stories are written by actual users or proxy users (stakeholders, designers, etc)

• User stories are discussed and edited in team

• Finalized user stories are accepted by product owner

Planning releases and iterations

• Every use story is assigned a number of story points (more points = more time to implement)

• Every iteration has the same limited number of story points

• Stories are sorted to iterations based on story points, iteration size and internal requirements

Tasks and tickets

• User stories can be divided into several tasks

• Tasks are created as enhancement tickets by the product owner and assigned to developers

• After successful testing of implemented enhancement tickets, user stories are closed

References• Cohn, M. (2004). User Stories Applied For Agile Software Development.

Boston, MA: Addison Wesley.

• Cohn, M. (2011). A Sample Format for a Spreadsheet-Based Product Backlog. Retrieved from http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/a-sample-format-for-a-spreadsheet-based-product-backlog

• User story. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 26, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_story

Photos• Rool Paap, http://www.flickr.com/photos/roolrool/4468175996/

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Interaction Design Methods http://ifi7156.wordpress.com

Tallinn University Institute of Informatics