Here’s how to develop the most successful user stories
- By Jeffrey Segarra -
The precision and quality of your product requirements determine if your product will succeed or fail in the marketplace. Developing product requirements is part science and part art. There are many ways to deliver your requirements to your engineers but none is more effective than user stories. Why? Dale Carnegie said it best when he said, "When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion." A list of requirements might represent logic, long case studies might represent art, but user stories represent the best of bringing the two together with context. Remember, the precision and quality of your requirements must be properly researched, assimilated and presented to engineering in an actionable way to guarantee success
.To quote another icon of business, Steve Job said, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology, not the other way around.” The logic of this statement seems so simple and obvious but why do so many fail in its execution? It is because there if often a disconnect between understanding the user experience and translating requirements to the most effective user stories possible. No one understands this better than John Mansour, an expert practitioner of developing user stories.
At an upcoming BPMA event on July 21, John Mansour will present a practitioner’s workshop event, titled “The Art of Writing High-Fidelity User Stories: Product Usability Starts Here!”All user stories are not created equal. They may follow the same format but there are two types of user stories for distinctly different purposes. You’ll learn both in this workshop. BONUS: You’ll also learn the value of high-fidelity user stories for marketing and sales – without changing a thing! The target audience for this workshop are product managers, product owners, product designers and product marketing managers. Benefits:
More usable products
Clear customer business goals that are conducive to greater technical innovation
Fewer redesigns or re-do’s
Takeaways:
New techniques and formats for higher-fidelity user stories
A layered approach for developing clearer user stories
Mapping user stories to strategic customer goals
To keep the workshop as interactive as possible, attendance is limited and may be cancelled if there are not enough registrants.Timeline & Cost: 8:30am: Registration opens 9:00am - 1:00pm: WorkshopCoffee and light lunch will be served. Pre-registration is required$99 for BPMA Premium members$149 for BPMA Basic and non-membersTo keep the workshop as interactive as possible, attendance is limited and may be cancelled if there are fewer than 10 participants. Save $15 per ticket if you register as a group of 2 or more! Email alexis.schuette@gmail.com to register as a group and receive the discount.
About the Presenter: John Mansour is the founder and managing partner at Proficientz. He has more than 25 years of practical experience in high technology product management, product marketing, marketing communications and sales. John has worked in organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 1000 companies. Much of John’s success can be attributed to his extensive operations experience in senior management positions in software companies, healthcare, distribution and retail.As the managing partner of Proficientz, John has worked with more than 2000 organizations that span high technology, business services, telecom, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and many others. John served as the chairman for the Technology Association of Georgia’s Product Management Society from 2006 – 2010.LinkedIn | Company Website | Company Twitter
Jeffrey Segarra is an experienced and customer focused product management and marketing professional with 30 years experience in bringing products to market. Jeff has spent most of his career in product management but is currently the Senior Director of Product Marketing for the Nuance Document Imaging division of Nuance Communications, Inc. Jeff is responsible for a global team of product marketers that delivers industry product positioning, messaging and content to help customers identify how Nuance Imaging Solutions can meet their needs. He is a Certified ScrumMaster, is Pragmatic Marketing Certified (Level Three PMC-III), has a Certificate in Marketing from Cornell University and an MBA from Iona College, Hagan School of Business.