Writing User Stories

The art of user story writing is a foundational element of the product manager’s skill set. In this course, you’ll gain hands-on experience writing clear and concise user stories that effectively communicate product requirements to an agile development team. In addition, you’ll practice strategies for obtaining stakeholder buy-ins, prioritizing user stories, and measuring the success of launched features. Familiarity with the agile development processes is helpful but not required.

• Explore the role of user stories in the agile software development environment
• Master the differences between user stories, bugs, and epics
• Learn to write concise user stories that best communicate requirements to developers
• Understand how to present prioritized features to stakeholders and gain stakeholder buy-in
• Learn how to release new product features and gather feedback on their performance
• Understand how to establish an agile process for releasing new features

Ryan Harper is a senior product manager at Condé Nast Entertainment, where he supports the video initiatives of brands such as The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Wired. He's also been a product manager at iHeartMedia; a cofounder of the music distribution startup Newquill, and a developer of iOS and Android apps for DirecTV, LACMA, and WebMD. Ryan is a graduate of Yale University.