User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product

by Jeff Patton

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 here is that all these people are armed with the same picture in their heads: the picture they built while talking together. I’m going to pause here for effect. Now, I’m going to say this next part slowly, so you should read it slowly. Handing off all the details about the story to someone else to build doesn’t work. Don’t do that. If you and a group of people have worked together to understand what should be built, and if you’ve documented all the important things someone needs to know to build it, you may be very tempted here to hand it off to someone else. After all, when you look at the information, it’s crystal clear to you. But don’t fool yourself. It’s clear to you because your really smart brain is filling in all the details that aren’t written down. Your brain is so good at it that it’s hard for you to detect what could be missing. Remember, those det...