Understanding the big picture and creating value by building stuff that matters.

1. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Version: 20180611
Understanding the big picture and
creating value by building stuff that matters.
User Story Mapping 101

2. metmajer@getcloudnative.io
@metmajer
Innovation Technologist & Strategist.
Founder at GetCloudnative.
Martin Etmajer

3. Why User Story Mapping?

4. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 4
The Flat User Story Backlog
priority
things to be done
Do stuff...
Do more stuff...
Do even more stuff...
SPRINT 1
SPRINT 1
SPRINT 2
SPRINT 2

5. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 5
The Flat User Story Backlog
priorityObservation 1: Know What You‘re Building?
Arranging user stories in the order you build them
doesn‘t help when you want to answer the question
„What does the system you‘re building do?“ to others.
things to be done
Do stuff...
Do more stuff...
Do even more stuff...
SPRINT 1
SPRINT 1
SPRINT 2
SPRINT 2

6. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 6
The Flat User Story Backlog
priorityObservation 2: Know How Things Relate?
You can‘t see how everything fits together.
Making decisions on what to build next is difficult.
Sure you haven‘t forgotten about important features?
things to be done
Do stuff...
Do more stuff...
Do even more stuff...
SPRINT 1
SPRINT 1
SPRINT 2
SPRINT 2

7. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 7
The Flat User Story Backlog
priority
things to be done
Do stuff...
Do more stuff...
Do even more stuff...
SPRINT 1
SPRINT 1
SPRINT 2
SPRINT 2
Observation 3: Know You Build The Right Things?
You can‘t see how your users experience the product.
Planning coherent, value-driven releases is diffult.

8. What is User Story Mapping?

9. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 9
What is User Story Mapping?
„User Story Mapping is about telling a story
and breaking it down into smaller parts.“
Jeff Patton

10. What is User Story Mapping?
The Standard Reference
„Discover the whole story,
build the right product.“

11. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 11
The User Story Map

12. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 12
The User Story Map wall, whiteboard or flip chart paper
sticky notes

13. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 13
The User Story Map
Users
Who are your users and
what are their goals?

14. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 14
The User Story Map
User Tasks („Walking Skeleton“)
Things a user does to achieve a goal.
Starts with a verb, e.g., „Send Email“.

15. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 15
The User Story Map
User Activities („Backbone“)
Groupings of similar tasks.

16. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 16
The User Story Map
User Stories
Flesh out the user journey in detail:
Sub-tasks, alternatives, exceptions, etc.

17. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 17
The User Story Map
Narrative Flow
Tell a day in your users‘ life from
left-to-right and top-to-bottom.
(Build up all features at a time.)

18. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 18
The User Story Map
Release Slice
Identifies the smallest number
of user stories for each task.
Achieves your user‘s goals.
Goal

19. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 19
The User Story Map
A Simple Example
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20. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 20
Construct, Visualize and Communicate the Big Picture
Understand what you‘re going to build, for whom, why and when you‘re going to build it.
Collaboratively Build Shared Understanding
User Story Mapping enforces open conversations and collaboration across teams.
Set Priorities and Build the Right Things
Discern the must-haves from the should-haves and the could-haves in context.
Minimize output and maximize outcome (don't just build more things faster)!
Allocate Teams and Plan Releases
Identify and address risks in early iterations.
Allocate teams around a coherent, incremental product release roadmap.
User Story Mapping
Benefits

21. How to User Story Mapping?

22. Preparations
(Step 0)

23. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 23
User Story Mapping
Step 0: Preparations
wall, whiteboard or flip chart paper
sticky notes
4-6 people (cross-functional including real user)

24. Frame the Product
(Step 1)

25. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 25
User Story Mapping
Step 1: Frame the Product
§ Which problem is your product going to solve?
§ Who are the users of your product?
§ How does your organization benefit from building the product?

26. Map the Big Picture
(Step 2)

27. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 27
User Story Mapping
2. Map the Big Picture
1. Identify the things users can do (user tasks) with your application.
Tips
‣ Start with the user most critical to your product‘s success. Add users as they enter the story.
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always starts with a verb

28. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 28
User Story Mapping
2. Map the Big Picture
2. Group similar tasks into named clusters (user activities).
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always starts with a verb
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29. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 29
User Story Mapping
2. Map the Big Picture
3. Bring activities and tasks into an order in which users would complete them.
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30. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 30
User Story Mapping
2. Map the Big Picture
4. Tell the narrative and confirm all relevant activities and tasks have been captured.
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Aah, sure!

31. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 31
User Story Mapping
2. Map the Big Picture
Tips
‣ If telling the narrative doesn‘t feel right, your product design may have gaps.
‣ You can add activities or tasks that don‘t fit into the narrative to the end of the map.
‣ If a user story appears multiple times, that‘s ok. Use markers to denote its importance.
(Duplicate stories indicate key features and functionalities of your product.)

32. Explore the Story
(Step 3)

33. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 33
User Story Mapping
3. Explore the Story
5. Break down high-level tasks into more detailed user stories that build incremental value.
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34. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 34
User Story Mapping
3. Explore the Story
6. Investigate alternatives and exceptions by asking…
§ „What could go wrong?“
§ „Wouldn‘t it be good if…?“
§ „What else might users do?“
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35. Slice Out Releases
(Step 4)

36. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 36
User Story Mapping
4. Slice Out Releases
7. Arrange each task‘s user stories in a priority order from top (highest) to bottom (lowest).
if unsure, compare relative user story values against one another
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37. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 37
User Story Mapping
4. Slice Out Releases
8. Using horizontal lines, slice the map into a sequence of incremental product releases.
Product Release Roadmap
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RELEASE 1
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38. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 38
User Story Mapping
4. Slice Out Releases
Tips
‣ Each release should mark a minimum viable product that spans your product‘s users.
‣ State how each release contributes to your user‘s goals and how to measure its success.

39. MARTIN ETMAJER
Founder | GetCloudnative e.U. Slide 39
User Story Mapping is An Art, Not Science
„A story map is not a precise model of a user‘s workflow.
It‘s a tool that helps us work together to tell users‘ stories.“
Jeff Patton

40. What Else is There?

41. The Standard Reference
User Story Mapping
The Standard Reference
„Discover the whole story,
build the right product.“

42. The New User Story Backlog is a Map
Author: Jeff Patton

43. Story Map Concepts
Author: Jeff Patton

44. How to Create a User Story Map
Author: Steve Rogalsky

45. User Story Mapping in Practice
Author: Steve Rogalsky