Story map tool

User Story Map is becoming a popular user story management technique through the efforts of Jeff Patton and others. The user story tool allows you to establish multiple levels and dimensions for a backlog through the breakdown of user needs as user activities, user tasks, epics and user stories. Typically, an agile development team makes use of story map in collaborative meetings in identifying the desired results the end users want to achieve. Here are few benefits of using story map as a user story tool: Manage backlog with an overview and leveled structure Brainstorm, discuss and prioritize user needs in a collaborative approach Manage activities and tasks, and divide them into user stories systematically Drag & drop arrangement and prioritization of user activities and user tasks, or drill down to refine user story list visually Manage user stories in the online user story tool or in desktop environment, which suit both a remote and co-location environments. Identify features from visual models and have them stored in backlog, be added to map, broken-down as user stories, and to Affinity Table for automated story estimation and Spike identification Update story status with progress indicators Receive user activities as a piece of requirement from wide variety of sources such as BPMN, use cases and etc.Visual Paradigm makes the story map feature available in both the desktop application and as a cloud user story tool. It represents a journey a customer undertakes with a product, including the identification of user activities (also called backbone) and a group of related tasks for achieving the activity. User organizes a backlog of work based on the user activities and the associated tasks by a drag & drop user interface. Building a Story MapStory map is a 4-level hierarchical structure for requirements gathering. Story map starts from a collection of user features received from different sources (i.e. backlog), and these user features will be achieved as an activity by performing some tasks. And these tasks can be transformed into epics and then user stories for software development.Story Map Structure: User Feature for achieving a Goal (Backlog) > Activities > Tasks > Epics > StoriesSteps to Planning a Story MapTo facilitate agile development, Story Map can receive user features identified from different sources. As mentioned above, it could be the requirements derived from EA contracts, work packages from project management initiatives or ad-hoc analysis such as-is and to-be analysis, use cases in a use diagram to be integrated with agile software development and etc.Assume that, we have already accumulated a list of user features in the story map backlog from multiple different sources. A user feature will be achieved as an activity by performing some tasks. Each of the tasks could be further decomposed into a few epics (bigger user stories). Each of the epics contains a list of user stories which are decomposed into a size that is suitable to be fitted into a sprint iteration. Here are the steps involved for planning a story map: Drag

– By slicing out releases, the story map helps us understand how big or small the releases actually are. So, it’s a great instrument for cutting down release time and faster iterations. Story map provides a great platform for asking questions such as if something is really necessary for the product to bring value to customers or can a certain release be broken down into two or three smaller ones.Onboarding New Members of the Team – Every time someone new joins the team, it’s important to have an opportunity to explain a product to them in a clear, fast, and productive way. They should be aware of enough details to help the team fill the gaps, but still not overwhelm them. A story map is just the perfect instrument for doing this. It also helps the new team member understand the current point in the process as they can just refer to the releases on the map. User Story Mapping Tools There are a number of tools in the market place that can aid you with user story mapping. Which one you choose will depend upon your context and your organisational ecosystem for ways of working. User Story Mapping Tool – Using Miro Miro provides user story mapping templates for you to visualise your consumer journey and improve your products and bring a user-centric approach.The Miro collaborative tool has been used my many organisations during the pandemic with the increase of people working remotely. Having the ability to do user

User Story Map is a technique used in agile software development to visualize and prioritize the user stories that make up a project. It helps teams to understand the bigger picture, identify dependencies and gaps, and ensure that the end product meets the needs of its users. It is a powerful tool to discover the right solution for your users and evolves as you gain insights. It is the process of visualizing your product from the initial vision, to user key activities, and viable releases. A story map becomes a multidimensional map that tells the story of the overall product and provides a development strategy for fast learning. User Story Map consists of a series of user stories, arranged horizontally on a timeline or vertically on a grid. Each story represents a specific feature or functionality that the user needs, and is written from the perspective of the user. For example, a user story might be “As a customer, I want to be able to search for products by category so that I can find what I’m looking for more easily.”KEY ELEMENTS OF A USER STORY MAPThere are a few key elements to a User Story Map as mentioned belowThemes or goals: These are the high-level objectives of the project, and they provide the overall context for the user stories.User stories: Each User Story represents a specific feature or functionality that the user needs, and is written from the perspective of the user.Priority: The stories are arranged on the map according to their priority, with the most important stories at the top and less important stories below them.Dependencies: The map shows the relationships between different stories, including any dependencies that may exist. For example, if one story depends on another being completed first, it will be placed below it on the map.The user’s journey: By visualizing the flow of stories from start to finish, teams can understand the user’s journey through the product or service and identify any potential bottlenecks or roadblocks.STEPS TO CREATING A USER STORY MAP Here are the steps for creating a User Story MapKey Activities—The Backbone: Define the main themes or goals of the project. These themes should be high-level and represent the overarching objectives of the project. Identify your users and their high-level key activities (refer to Business Model Canvas). Customer segments could identify users, and value propositions could be candidate activities. Epics—The Walking Skeleton: Break down these high-level activities into epics to form the walking skeleton of your story map.User Stories: Break down the themes into smaller, more specific user stories. Each story should represent a specific feature or functionality that the user needs, and should be written from the perspective of the user. Identifying your most important user should be straightforward if you have already crafted a product vision. Arrange the stories: Do it on the map according to their priority and the order in which they will be implemented. The most important stories should be placed at the top of the map,