#pm_library: “User Story Mapping”
I always wanted to feel like a software engineer for a moment and read one of O’Reilly’s books (with a beautiful illustration of an animal on the cover). Finally, I found one for my #pm_library! It was “User Story Mapping” from John Patton. Let me share my impressions.
User stories and some kind of user flows have been with me in my work since I was a junior. However, we were using them in a relatively narrow context. Some developers did not start coding without a properly written story (as X, I want to do Y to achieve Z). Good user designers started designing specific functionalities from this.
Jeff Patton presents User Story Mapping in a broader context: as a starting point for product development. Before I list the essential advantages of this solution, let’s start with the definition.
User Story Map is a breakdown of the steps users must take to achieve their particular goals. We write down each activity on a separate sheet of paper and arrange it in a logical sequence. Noteworthy, it is not just a map showing “how the user uses our product.” It is a map of all activities users must perform to achieve their goals.
Example. Suppose we have a company that manufactures pizza ovens. It is reasonable then to map the entire pizza preparation process, not just the baking phase. It is worth starting with ordering the ingredients, then collecting and preparing them, kneading the dough, baking, putting it on a plate, and handing it over to the waiter. People often focus only on the stories related to “operating the oven”. If so, you can miss many opportunities to improve the product and create a competitive advantage.
And now, we arrived at the first advantage of User Story Mapping: looking at the broader context, you might discover new opportunities to improve the user experience thanks to changes/new functionalities in our product.
The second advantage is “closing” the flow, ensuring that we do not miss the essential steps for our product’s proper functioning.
The third advantage is “forcing ourselves” to go out and talk and hang around with real users. To create a correct map, you need to observe users’ behavior. Thanks to that, you’ll build empathy and a really useful product.
The fourth advantage is more accessible communication with people from our company who are not actively involved in product development. As a rule, people will understand a project much more quickly by looking at such a map than by reading any other type of documentation. User Stor Map will be useful for introducing new team members to the project and justifying certain decisions to stakeholders.
I’m a huge fan of User Story Mapping. Both the method itself and the books by Jeff Patton. I don’t regret a second spent listening to this audiobook.
