7 comments

  • Vince MeaseVince Mease, over 8 years ago

    I wonder if you really need a new solution to your problem? Given your user story examples, it looks like they haven't had all the prescriptiveness rung out of them. For instance,

    As a developer, I want a badge on my profile that when I am a top poster, so people know I am a top poster.

    You've prescribed the solution (badge) and likely confused the value portion of the story with the user's desire (top poster recognition). Easy enough to remove that however and then add/clarify the actual value.

    As a developer, I want people to know I am a top poster, so that [my ego is sufficiently stroked?]

    All that said, this is the first I've come across the term, Job Stories. Definitely want to do some more reading and maybe a test in a team setting.

    4 points
    • Maximilian Wambach, over 8 years ago

      Agreed. I also really like the emphasis on the user's motivation. But I feel that this could also be done if you change the definition of the [because] part. What I am really missing in job stories, though, is the ability to define specific target groups in the "As a [role]". That's a plus on the user story side. But nevertheless, I really like the motivation part. Will try to integrate that into my thinking even more.

      1 point
    • Kyle FiedlerKyle Fiedler, over 8 years ago

      Those examples were written in jobs format first and I tried to convert them back to user stories. I'll admit that I took some liberties to make them seem more prescriptive. I wanted to hammer home this point:

      In my experience, user stories have a tendency to be easily manipulated to proposing a solution rather than explaining an expected outcome for that particular user.

      Because the format for a user story is [persona] and [action] as apposed to [context] and [motivation], they've been manipulated to proposing the solution. In my experience with jobs stories, I haven't seen this manipulation happen yet. The team stuck better to motivations for the feature.

      0 points
  • Mitch Malone, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

    In my experience, user stories have a tendency to be easily manipulated to proposing a solution rather than explaining an expected outcome for that particular user. In particular, I’ve found people leave off the “so that __” in a user story with the feeling that it is optional. This leaves off the benefit that the user would get from adding new functionality.

    This. All day. Definitely see this in our backlog.

    3 points
  • Al HaighAl Haigh, over 8 years ago

    Been working with Job Stories for awhile now. A hugely valuable tool.

    1 point
  • Ryan GloverRyan Glover, over 8 years ago

    Really smart. Simple, but has a huge impact. Going to give it a try on a personal project to see how it influences the outcomes :)

    1 point
  • Ramon PocaRamon Poca, over 8 years ago

    Just asking: If "job stories" come from "real people not personas" aren't you failing at focusing your product? Aren't you designing by reaction to one user request (usually a manager or empowered individual).

    Personas were created to avoid precisely that, by forcing the team to ask if that feature is really of value to a "realistic user" and avoid featuritis (another problem is if the "persona" is too diffuse).

    0 points