Providing a Proper User Story

Modified on Tue, 26 Jan, 2021 at 9:15 AM

This is a templated example of how to split the actual business need (User Story) from the Functional Requirement. 



The User Story is the business problem that you are trying to solve. 


USER STORIES ARE FORMATTED AS FOLLOWS:

                           

As a {user role}  
(who)
I want {business requirement} 
(what)
so that {goal}
(why)


The Example Scenario enforces or provides more context around what is trying to be solved. It can also include definitions, how you are currently solving the issue (if applicable), or any use cases that help explain the business problem.


Proposed Functional Implementation (optional) is one or multiple ways that the problem could be solved. You are welcome to propose how you think it should be solved, but that doesn't mean it will necessarily be the optimal functional solution.



Example:


Incorrect User Story Provided By User: I need to export all my ShotFlow data to an Excel file.


So what makes this wrong? 

The user is describing a HOW (export data to Excel), to solve for a business problem that can potentially be solved many different ways, if we understand the actual business requirement (WHAT) and the goal (WHY). By only providing the HOW, the user has not articulated the business context for this work.

This particular functional solution (exporting data to Excel) may not be the most efficient or easiest for the user, if the primary system can deliver the User Story without the need for manual data manipulation in another tool.


So what would a valid User Story look like? 

As a producer, I want visibility to the relevant project and job information when reviewing samples that haven't been shot, so that I can align marketing needs to my available inventory.


EXAMPLE SCENARIO (If needed, describe a specific situation): Producers must deal with physical sample inventory in terms of the larger projects/jobs that drive the need for content creation. Samples are only relevant if the product that sample represents is needed for a campaign or job, and that product does not already have all relevant content captured. 


PROPOSED FUNCTIONAL IMPLEMENTATION (here's how I think it could be solved ):  Create a View to show me the products needed for each Project/Job, where I can update the Status of the related sample(s) for those products.



REMEMBER: 

The User Story answers the WHO, WHAT, and WHY. 

The Functional Implementation answers the WHEN, HOW, and WHERE.


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