User flows and stories
User stories are a vital tool in agile development, representing an end goal.
User stories place user needs and goals at the heart of the development process and enable teams to iterate and improve features based on user goals, needs and preferences.
Introduction to user stories
User stories describe specific user interactions with a product. They guide development and design decisions as they outline user goals, actions and expected outcomes.
What are user stories, and why are they important?
User stories are intended to communicate requirements and features to development teams and are typically written in a simple format: “As a [type of user], I want to [do something] so that I can [achieve a goal].” User stories are important because they ensure all potential features align with user needs and goals.
The role of user stories
User stories serve to ensure that digital products are designed with the user’s intention in mind, resulting in more effective and user-friendly outcomes.
Benefits of user stories
User stories aid development teams in prioritising features, foster a shared understanding among stakeholders, designers and developers, and enable teams to develop and improve features with a user-centric approach.
Supporting your users needs
Enables the creation of clear requirements
Facilitates user-centred design
Minimises risk
The stages of user stories
Stage 1: Gather research
This typically takes the form of a user persona or user interviews. This insight will be used to write the stories.
Stage 2: Write stories
An initial set of stories would be written and sorted into functional areas.
Stage 3: Workshop
The initial stories and functional areas should be presented in a workshop.
Stage 4: Document stories
The selected stories should be taken into a Google sheet and supplied to the stakeholders and relevant team members.
What’s included
User stories informed by user insight will be supplied. The user stories will consist of a user type, user intent, and an understanding of how their desired actions will fit into the ‘bigger picture’.
Why choose Make it Clear
At Make it Clear, we take an evidence-based approach to everything we do. Understanding your organisation, audiences, and the context in which they interact is paramount to the way we work and deliver a best-in-class user experience.
