Agile Glossary

User Story Template

What is User Story Template?

A user story template is a common format used to write user stories that help you include key pieces of information about that user story.

One particular template, often referred to as “As a… I want to… So That…” is the most commonly recommended aid (often outgrown once past the novice stage) for teams and product owners starting to work with user stories and product backlog items in general:

  • As a (who wants to accomplish something)
  • I want to (what they want to accomplish)
  • So that (why they want to accomplish that thing)

An example:

  • As a bank customer
  • I want to withdraw money from an ATM
  • So that I’m not constrained by opening hours or lines at the teller’s

Also Known As

Another name is the “Connextra format”, in recognition of its origins (see below).

Expected Benefits

This template serves as “training wheels”, reminding people in conversation about user stories to pay attention not just to “what” the desired software product is to do, but also “for whom” it does it and in pursuit of “what objectives”.

Common Pitfalls

Many novice teams fall into rote application of this or some other user story format. In fact, such formats are intended more as checklists. A more relaxed phrasing is often just as effective at communicating the overall intent of a user story. Since the greatest amount of detail about a user story will in any case arise in conversation between members of the team, often quite sometime after initially writing a story card, spending much effort and time on complying with user story templates is without much point.

Origins

  • 2001: the “role-feature-reason” format for expressing user stories is invented at Connextra in the UK

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Additional Agile Glossary Terms

A Niko-niko Calendar is updated daily with each team member's mood for that day. Over time the calendar reveals patterns of change in the moods of the team, or of individual members.
Backlog grooming is when the product owner and some, or all, of the rest of the team refine the backlog on a regular basis to ensure the backlog contains the appropriate items, that they are prioritized, and that the items at the top of the backlog are ready for delivery.
The Kanban Method is a means to design, manage, and improve flow systems for knowledge work. The method also allows organizations to start with their existing workflow and drive evolutionary change. They can do this by visualizing their flow of work, limit work in progress (WIP) and stop starting and start finishing.
Mock Objects (commonly used in the context of crafting automated unit tests) consist of instantiating a test-specific version of a software component.
An approach to estimation used by Agile teams. Each team member "plays" a card bearing a numerical value corresponding to a point estimation for a user story.
A Kanban Board is a visual workflow tool consisting of multiple columns. Each column represents a different stage in the workflow process.

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