Some sketches about using User Stories to facilitate shared understanding: bad, better, best.
See also Users Stories to facilitate iterative, incremental development.
Shared documents aren’t shared understanding.
“Shared documents aren’t shared understanding.”
User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton
Bad (😞): Assuming shared documents is the same as shared understanding.
Better (🤔): Using stories to facilitate conversation.
Best (😄): Converting conversations to acceptance criteria to validate shared understanding.
The essence of stories is how they’re used, not how they’re written.
“Stories get their name from how they should be used, not what should be written.”
User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton
Bad (😞): Filling out User Story templates blindly (no matter how confusing and contrived the result).
AKA Template Zombie
See also Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies by Tom DeMarco et al.
Better (🤔): Who, What, Why (as a simple reminder of what to consider).
“..I’ll first give them a short, simple title, and then under it I’ll write:
Who:
What:
Why:”
User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton