User Stories: hear the User Voice !

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Posted by jc-Qualitystreet on 2009/11/12

User stories are increasingly used on Agile projects. This popularity is a very good thing. Goal and business oriented, their simplicity and a immediate focus on acceptance criteria make them terribly effective on design projects.

Once the 3C described (Card, Conversation and Confirmation) and INVEST criteria well understood, when the team and Product Owner start to discover their own stories, they often ask me if the « User Voice » format must be respected …
This format is the following:

As a <User Role>
I can <Goal>
So That <Business Value>

A sentence in which,

• The role is the one that makes the action and who benefits
• The goal is the action executed
• The Business value represents the benefits that emerge from the action

So, should we use this format ? My answer is definitely YES!

• The « User Voice » gives meaning to the feature … why and for whom the team will develop the product
• It is a step closer to a user experience approach, especially to the Personas method.The role is often a Persona, representing a concrete realistic and shared vision of the end user.
• It is clearly ACTION and  GOAL oriented (so efficient to design products)
• It justifies all the functionality of a business point of view, and requires the Product Owner and teams to systematically examine the value of each feature

My advice:
Give a  concise and significant title  to the User Story and then describe the user story using the « User Voice » format.

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