How to Write User Stories

A man holding a pen, writing in a notebook while sitting at a desk.

6-minute read

User stories are simple stories told from a user’s perspective. They give product teams insight into users’ needs, challenges, and goals. We share a template you can use for your user stories, provide real-world examples, and explain how you can use user stories to understand their goals. 

 

What would you do if you had to write a satisfying final episode for a hit TV show? If millions of viewers expected a happy ending for the beloved main character, how would you write the resolution? That may sound like a far stretch from product management, but product teams do this daily. That’s where user stories come in. Your users are your main characters. User stories can help you write happy endings (or at least deliver satisfying products).

Are you ready to start writing your user’s happy ending? Keep reading to learn more, or skip to the section you’re most interested in:

What is a user story?

A user story is a general, informal description of a feature told from the end user’s perspective. The user is a customer or an end-user of a product or software.

User stories typically follow this template:

As a [type of user], I want [to achieve a goal] so that [benefit].

What are some examples of user stories?

Following this template, an example of a user story might be:

  • As a patient, I want to quickly book appointments so that I can stay in control of my health.
  • As a ticket holder, I want to share tickets with my friends so that we can all enjoy the concert experience.
  • As an account holder, I want to easily check my bank balances so that I can keep track of my finances.

Note that these examples don’t go into detail, and they don’t get bogged down in specific features or use cases.

These user stories do not say, “I want an in-app appointment booking feature that syncs to my calendar” or “I want a “See Balances” button in the login portal.”These are focused on the user’s goal (to quickly book appointments, share tickets with friends, and easily check their bank account) so they can enjoy the outcome (stay in control of their health, enjoy the concert experience, and keep track of their finances).

User stories help product managers shift their focus from prescribing features to critically thinking about the best solution for a user’s needs and goals. They are the smallest unit of work in an agile framework. They can fit into scrum and kanban processes and be burned down in scrum sprints or moved into kanban workflows over time. This helps teams estimate and plan sprints and supports workflow management.

Why are they important?

User stories are an essential first step in developing features that solve market problems and satisfy users. When done right, user stories can:

  • Help the product team stay focused on the user, their needs, and their goals. Then, the team can build features and products that provide real value.
  • Encourage stakeholder communication and collaboration among product managers, marketers, and developers. Communication clarifies expectations, uncovers hidden requirements, pursues valuable opportunities, and ensures that all teams share an understanding of what they are building and why.
  • Facilitate prioritization and planning. When teams are working toward the user’s most important outcome, it becomes easier to prioritize features and plan workflows.
  • Drive adaptability and creativity. User stories change as teams learn more about users’ needs and goals. This flexibility is central to Agile methodologies and enables teams to pivot quickly and pursue creative solutions.
  • Define success. User stories move teams’ goals from “build and deliver a new feature” to “solve a problem for our end user.” When that problem is solved and the user achieves their goal, your team will know they delivered an effective product. Identifying metrics and KPIs that pair with the user story will help your team measure success.

How to write user stories

When you write a user story, you should focus on capturing a feature or requirement from the user’s perspective. Establish this in a clear, concise format. Your goal is to help your development team and stakeholders understand what they need to build and why.

  • Identify the user. They could be an actual end-user of your product, a customer, or a stakeholder. Your personas can help you understand different users’ unique needs.
  • Understand the user’s goal. What does your user want to achieve? Look at their needs, challenges, and motivations. In what context will they use the feature or product? Get feedback from real users through interviews, surveys, or other data to gather valuable insights.
  • Articulate the benefit. State why the user wants to achieve their goal. Clarifying the “why” will help you focus on the benefit the user will gain from the feature, which will justify its development.
  • Use the standard template. Write the user story in a common template to ensure consistency and clarity.
    • Identify the user type.
    •  State their goal.
    •  Articulate the benefit.
    • Then, format those in a simple sentence: As a [type of user], I want [to achieve a goal] so that [benefit].
  • Define when the story ends. A user story is generally “done” when the user can complete an outlined task. For example, if your user story is: “As an account holder, I want to easily check my bank balances so that I can keep track of my finances,” the story will end when your user can easily check their bank balances. What must your team do to help your user accomplish that goal? Outline what your team needs to do to achieve that (build a new product, develop and launch a new feature), and identify who will make that happen.
  • Manage timelines. In Agile, user stories should be completable in one sprint. Therefore, agile teams often break up stories that take a long time (like weeks or months) to complete into smaller stories to help manage workload and estimate completion.

Who is responsible?

Product Managers are often responsible for writing user stories. However, depending on the size of your team and the responsibilities team members take on, product owners, product marketers or even development team members can support this task. It’s also important to note that who writes the user story is less important than who is involved in the discussions about it and who contributes to creating a solution for that user’s goal.

When should you write user stories?

User stories are typically written near the start of an Agile project, although they can be written anytime. Ideally, everyone on the team will be able to participate in user story discussions. This exercise aims to create features that address users’ goals and release those over time.
Deriving user goals from user stories

When you use user stories to understand your users’ challenges and needs, you can pinpoint their goals. Ultimately, this approach helps you focus on the user’s underlying motivations and the benefits they seek.

How do you get from an idea to a story to a user goal?

  • Start with a story about a user. Look at the context in which the user experiences a need or pain point. “When driving along unfamiliar roads, I often glimpse an interesting-looking shop or restaurant. Unfortunately, I am usually on my way to an appointment; it is unsafe to pull over, or the place is closed. It would be great if I had some way to remember the place’s name or its location so I could research it and return to it.”
  • Summarize the user story. Take the long, context-rich story and summarize that using the user story template. “As a driver who frequently travels in unfamiliar areas, I want the ability to record my current location so that I can remember interesting places.”
  • Identify the user’s request. The request is the product or feature the user wants to solve their problem. You might reach the request by identifying where the user says, “I wish” or “I want.” For example, “I wish I could remember my car’s current location while driving along an unfamiliar route. That way, if I see something interesting, I can easily locate it later. That’s a better description and is implementation-free.”
  • Derive the user’s goal. Read between the lines to understand what the user truly wants. That core desire will go beyond a feature or a simple solution. When users reach their goals, their lives should be improved or enriched. For example, “I would like to be able to return to interesting-looking shops, restaurants, or locations that I encounter while driving in unfamiliar areas. That is the best, distilled to the ultimate user goal.”

Author

  • Edward Brown

    Edward Brown, a Sr. IT Business Analyst with 25 years of expertise, has contributed significantly to Premier, Inc. His proficiency lies in leveraging technology for business enhancement. For questions or inquiries, please contact [email protected].

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