Common Mistakes Made When Writing User Stories

Getting user stories correct is a crucial part of a project. The following are common mistakes teams make when writing user stories.

Not defining the role
Defining the role of user story should be the first step. Without doing this, pinpointing the customer value is very difficult. It is also important that role is not too specific. Having a too narrow focus will make the story not applicable to enough of the customers.

Not collaborating on user stories
Collaboration is a significant part of writing user stories. The product owner and the development team should work together to pinpoint what features the customer would want. This should be done by meeting regularly every time a new functionality is released. This saves time by resulting shorter release cycles and enhancing build quality.

Expressing everything as a story
User stories are an important part of the project, but expressing everything as a story is a mistake. Doing so usually results in stories that focus on project aspects such as “user interface design, complex user interactions, and technical requirements.” These would be better described through methods such as sketches and storyboards. User stories are best when focused on product functionality and nonfunctional requirements. Your team should feel obligated to always use user stories

Works Cited

Choudhary, byNidhi. “7 Common User Story Mistakes and How to Avoid Them?” TO THE NEW BLOG, 12 May 2017, www.tothenew.com/blog/7-common-user-story-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/.

Pichler, Roman. “5 Common User Story Mistakes by Roman Pichler.” Roman Pichler, 31 Jan. 2017, www.romanpichler.com/blog/5-common-user-story-mistakes/.