User Story Mapping (USM) is a top-down approach of gathering "requirements" in agile environments. "A user story map arranges user stories into a useful model to help understand the functionality of the system, identify holes and omissions in your backlog, and effectively plan holistic releases that deliver value to users and business with each release (from Jeff Patton's The New User Story Backlog Is a Map)."

1. USER STORY
MAPPINGD E S I G N S K I L L S 2 0 1 6
B A R T O S Z M O Z Y R K O
@ B M O Z Y R K O

2. #UX
#ProdMgmt
#Sales
#Marketing

3. USER STORY MAPPING OVERVIEW
Through the efforts of Jeff Patton and others (thanks guys!) USM is becoming a popular technique.
It allows you to:
•See the big picture of the product.
•Make better decisions prioritizing your backlog.
•Facilitate an iterative development approach.

4. WHY FLAT BACKLOG DOESN'T WORK
“After establishing all that shared understanding I feel like we pull all the leaves off the tree
and load them into a leaf bag – then cut down the tree.That’s what a flat backlog is to me.
A bag of context-free mulch.” – Jeff Patton
Your idea starts here The work starts here

5. THE PROCESS
4 S T E P S O F U S E R S TO RY M A P P I N G

6. STEP 1: FRAME THE IDEA
•Why are you building the product?
•What are the benefits for you and for the users?
•What problems does it solve for them and for you?

7. STEP 2: UNDERSTAND YOUR USERS
•What are their goals?
•What challenges do they face?
•How do they define good user experience?

8. STEP 3: MAP PRODUCT USE
•What pain the product is aligned to?
•How does it solve that pain?
•Is that pain solved better compared to competition?

9. STEP 4: EXPLORE DETAILS
•Smaller and alternative steps
•User interface details
•Technical details

10. IT MIGHT LOOK LIKE THIS

11. BUT ALSO LIKE THIS

12. START FROM THE TOP
User Goals
User Tasks
Product Features

13. PERSONAS
A S A B U S I N E S S TO O L

14. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU A STORY…

15. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU A STORY…

16. USER PERSONA EXAMPLE

17. SAME GOALS, DIFFERENT MEANS

18. NOT EVERYONE IS EQUALLY RELEVANT

19. NARROW DOWN YOUR FOCUS

20. MENTAL
MODELS
I N T U I T I O N O F H OW S O M E T H I N G
WO R K S B A S E D O N PA S T E X P E R I E N C E S

21. MAPPING THE EXPERIENCE

22. FINDING OPPORTUNITIES

23. LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK

24. USER STORIES
“ S H A R E D D O C U M E N T S A R E N ’ T S H A R E D
U N D E R S TA N D I N G ”

25. WHY USE THEM?
• User Stories provide deeper insight into
the value each product feature brings to
the user.
• They facilitate understanding where to
prioritize and invest product team’s effort.
• They emphasize verbal communication.
Written language is often imprecise.

26. GOOD REQUIREMENT, BAD STORY

27. THE USM FORMULA™
Persona + Mental model + User Stories
= User Story Map

28. THE USER STORY MAPPING GAME
• Imagine your alarm wakes you up at 8:00
AM for work and you need to leave in 45
minutes.
• Write down as many different tasks you
can think that you will do in the
meantime.
• Collect all the tasks and put them
horizontally on the table sorted by time.

29. ROUND 2
• Now, Imagine that you alarm didn’t go off
this morning and you woke up at 8:30 AM.
• Select all the tasks that can be done when
you have got only 15 minutes of time.
• “Action expresses priorities.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

30. BUSINESS
GOALS
“ W E A L L G OT TA E AT ”

31. 101: ELEMENTS OF USER EXPERIENCE
• Without a plan your product is relying
on luck or seat-of-the-pants approach
to try and be success.
• Hoping on luck as a strategy is a casino
type gamble.
• You need to understand how different
levels of your business are linked together.

32. STRATEGY ALIGNMENT
Wasted time and money
Missed business opportunity

33. MINIMUM
VIABLE
PRODUCT
T H E W H AT, W H Y & H OW

34. THE GOOD OL’ CUPCAKE EXAMPLE
• In the Cupcake Model product teams start
with a smaller yet complete product that
is more desirable.
• It has all the appeal of a complete cake —
icing and filling, etc. — but its production
costs are much lower.
• When validated learning yields positive
results, the product development resumes.

35. THE PROBLEM WITH MVP

36. THE MVP FORMULA™
User Story Map + Business Goals + 1st Release
= MinimumViable Product

37. THE MVP FORMULA™
User Story Map + Business Goals + 1st Release
= MinimumViable Product

38. EXERCISE
• Work in pairs.
• Let’s make User Story Map of your
favorite mobile app.
• Use post-its and flipcharts.

39. ITERATIONS
“ M A N A G E R S M U S T U N D E R S TA N D T H E
D E L I V E RY S T R AT E G Y T H AT L E A D S TO
A F I N I S H E D P R O D U C T ”

40. THE BAD: INCREMENTAL DEV.

41. THE GOOD: ITERATIVE DEV.

42. THE END
“Remember: at the end
of the day, your job isn’t
to get the requirements
right – it’s to change the
world” – Jeff Patton

43. Thanks
@bmozyrko

44. SOURCES
• Slide 4: http://jpattonassociates.com/the-new-backlog/
• Slide 6, 7, 8, 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AorAgSrHjKM
• Slide 10: http://recursiveloop.io/?p=43
• Slide 11: http://storiesonboard.com/
• Slide 12: https://yellowpencil.com/blog/get-on-the-same-page-with-user-story-mapping/
• Slide 14 & 15: About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper
• Slide 16: http://blog.contentacle.com/if-youre-writing-for-nobody-thats-exactly-whos-reading/
• Slide 17 & 18: http://saleshacker.com/a-formula-for-aligning-sales-marketing-with-buyer-personas/
• Slide 21: http://boxesandarrows.com/alignment-diagrams/
• Slide 24: Quote by Jeff Patton
• Slide 25: https://barryoreilly.com/2012/08/21/the-systemico-model/
• Slide 31: The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond by Jesse James Garrett
• Slide 34: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3169/2879231007_fc324d85ed_z.jpg?zz=1
• Slide 35: https://moz.com/rand/7-unlikely-recommendations-for-startups-entrepreneurs/
• Slide 38: https://yellowpencil.com/blog/get-on-the-same-page-with-user-story-mapping/
• Slide 39: Quote by Jeff Patton
• Slide 40: https://.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/user-story-mapping/9781491904893/images/usmp_0407.png.jpg
• Slide 41: https://.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/user-story-mapping/9781491904893/images/usmp_0406.png.jpg
• Slide 42: User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product by Jeff Patton
• Slide 43: http://www.slideshare.net/kuratowa/the-art-of-the-presentation-63210671
Images, quotes and inspirations: