Hand-written on the front of the card. Tip: use the template {actor - goal}.
Owner/writer's name in the lower left corner.
Rating from 1 - 5 in the lower right corner based on owner's gut feeling of its value:
1 = critical: this service will not be useful without this
2 = fundamental: it'll cost more to use the service than it'll benefit without this
3 = good feature: seems like this should be doable, so do it!
4 = uncertain: not sure, but feels important
5 = cosmetic: not a high priority/do it if it's easy
What Is a User Story?
A user story describes functionality that will be valuable to either a user or purchaser of a system or software. User stories typically take the format actor - goal:
actor - a group of users who interact with the system in similar ways or for similar purposes; can be a role.
goal - what the actor wants to accomplish; it is just detailed enough to need further conversations.
User stories are composed of three aspects:
Card
A written description of the story used for planning and as a reminder to have a conversation.
Represents rather than documents requirements.
Conversation
Conversations between owners and developers about the story serve to flesh out the details of the story.
Occurs "just in time" (not months or years before implementation begins)
Confirmation
Acceptance tests that convey and document details and that can be used to determine when a story is complete.
What is not a User Story?
User stories are not shall statements.
Shall statements reorganize the atomic units of a user story by their atomic characteristics (and are thus tedious and time consuming to write and to read).
User stories maintain their composition, so the value to the customer is always known.
User stories are not use cases.
Use cases are like contracts that customers and developers agree upon. User stories facilitate release and iteration planning.
Use cases are typically written as a result of analysis, where user stories are written as notes that can be used to initiate analysis conversations.
User stories are not scenarios.
Scenarios are characterized by a setting, an actor, goals or objectives, actions and events.
User stories are concerned only with the actor and goal or objective, in manageable units.
