What Are Agile User Stories?

• User stories keep the teams’ focus on the user, and how a certain product feature will benefit them. This is essential for user-focused product development.
• They help teams to manage workflow with both speed and flexibility.
• They encourage collaborative, creative thinking.

User stories can be used in different ways depending on which agile framework your teams follow.

• Scrum: In Scrum, user stories make up the product backlog, and are prioritized collaboratively by the Scrum Master and the Scrum Teams.
• In Kanban, user stories are prioritized by the product owner. However, the Kanban backlog remains flexible, and the product owner can re-prioritize tasks.
• Epics and initiatives: User stories are important parts of epics and initiatives. They are the building blocks that help to break large tasks into smaller ones.

• Use fleshed-out user personas. It's much more effective to create a well-researched and fully understood persona called ‘ Sarah ’ than just 'As a manager.'
• If a user story takes too long to complete, break it down into even smaller stories.
• Define 'done'. Not everyone involved in development will have the same definition of the word 'Done'.