User Story Mapping

Chapter 9. The Card Is Just the Beginning

The three C s are just the beginning.

I know I said earlier that I don’t feel obligated to quote the Agile Manifesto, but I’m going to anyway—well, at least a small part of it. One of the value statements in the manifesto reads “Working software over comprehensive documentation.” I could rephrase that as “working software over comprehensive conversation,” and the meaning would be the same. All those conversations—and the documentation that helps us recall them—are just a means to an end. Eventually we’ll need to build something.

If we finish the cycle, the model looks like this:

There are some gotchas that always manage to sneak in here after we’ve got shared understanding and agreement on what we’ll build. Keep an eye out for them.

Construct with a Clear Picture in Your Head

After having conversations, and writing down details that’ll help us remember those conversations, and writing down confirmation—that is, our agreement about the things we’ll check to confirm we’re done—we’re finally ready to make something:

• Software developers can get started building the software.
• Testers can create test plans and test.
• UI designers can create detailed UI design and digital assets, if they haven’t already done so as part of arriving at a shared understanding.
• Technical writers can write or update help files or other documents.

The most important thing ...