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What is a User Story and Tips of Writing an Effective User Story

What is a User Story ?



We can define a user story as the short and simple description of a functionality used in Agile practice. Basically they are written to capture the requirement from the customer or the end user perspective. It will simply say What type of users, What they want and Why they want it. The user stories should be written in a language where it is clear to both the customer and the development/QA teams as to what the customer wants and why he wants it and what kind of customer wants it. 

Development team should understand the customers need and they should take care of how to cater the requirement from technical perspective.

There is a simple structure to a user story.

As a <<CUSTOMER TYPE>>
I want <<WHAT CUSTOMER WANTS>>
So that <<WHY CUSTOMER WANTS IT>> 
Let me elaborate more on this taking an example. 
Assume a tutor wants to publish his/her tutor services for students online for students to apply. Will convert this into a user story and see.

As a Tutor
I want to publish my tutoring services online
So that students can see my services and apply for those tutoring services
That's a simple example of how to write a user story.

Based on my experience of working with user stories for nearly 5 years I can say, Its very easy to write them but we should know the correct methods and tips to write an effective user stories.

Tips for writing effective and good user stories

  • Think from user perspective 
As the name implies user story will elaborate the from the user perspective. If you don't understand the user requirement as to what they want and why they want, then you have to do your homework first. 
  • Make your story Simple and Concise
This is one of the important things which you have to understand. User story should be short and concise and should not have any ambiguity in it, 

As <User> ,
I want <what?>
so that <why?>.

Use the template when it is helpful, but don’t feel obliged to always apply it. Experiment with different ways to write your stories to understand what works best for you and your team.
  • Discuss your stories with the teams 
This is one of the method which I personally prefer. You have to make the stories visible to the team and you should always make it as a practice to discuss in with the technical team. Before going into grooming sessions make sure that the team is aware on the depth of the user story. In this way you can save more time in your grooming sessions.
(I will write a separate blog post on how can we make our agile practices more efficient and effective when it comes to the real corporate world) 
  • Don't hesitate to add NOTES
If you have more information which you want the team to know, always make a note in there so that the teams can understand the user story more detail. 

  • Keep the UIs aligned with user stories 
If you are doing a requirement related to a front-end functionality then it's better to have the relevant UI attached to it. That way the teams can easily understand what should be the outcome.

These are the few steps you have to keep in mind when you want to write a effective user story.😎
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