How to Write User Stories in Jira: The Complete Guide
Introduction
User stories are a critical part of the agile development process. They help describe software features and requirements from an end user‘s perspective. Writing clear, concise user stories is key to building products that truly meet customer needs.
This comprehensive guide will teach you how to craft well-formed user stories in Jira, go over best practices, and detail a step-by-step process for bringing those stories to life. Read on to transform how your team collaborates and ships software.
What is a User Story?
A user story describes functionality that will be valuable to a user. User stories typically follow this basic format:
As a [type of user], I want [goal/desire] so that [benefit/value].
Here’s an example:
As a user, I want to be able to reset my password easily so that I can access my account even if I forget my current password.
With this standard template, user stories capture the user, need, and benefit in a simple, concise way.
Benefits of User Stories
There are several key advantages to documenting requirements with user stories:
- They keep the focus on delivering value to users
- They promote collaboration through an understandable format
- They can capture changing needs as a product evolves
- They enable discussion around implementation details
Overall, user stories provide transparency between team members and help organize the development process.
Writing User Stories in Jira
Jira provides built-in tools for authoring user stories during agile product development. As a flexible issue tracking platform, Jira enables you to capture stories, break them down into tasks, organize sprints, and ultimately transform those stories into working software.
Here is an overview of the step-by-step process:
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Create Your Jira Account
Before writing user stories, you’ll first need a Jira account. Jira offers a free forever plan for up to 10 users. Sign up to create your account and get started. -
Create a New Issue
In Jira, issues help capture and organize work items such as bugs, tasks, features, and user stories. To write a new user story, click Create in the upper right corner and select Issue. -
Write the User Story Summary
Draft a user story summary title that briefly explains the story using the common "As a I want so that ____" template. See the earlier password reset example. -
Add Descriptions or Attachments
Below the title field, you can provide any additional description details in the body. You can also drag and drop file attachments. -
Assign the Story
To delegate ownership, assign the user story to the appropriate teammate responsible for managing it. -
Set Priority
Flag high priority user stories by selecting a priority level from Lowest to Highest. -
Publish the Story
After drafting your user story, hit Create and congrats, you’ve written your first user story in Jira!
Components of an Effective User Story
Let’s explore what constitutes a well-written user story in more detail. The best user stories contain these key components:
- User – Identify the type of end user
- Need – Highlight what the user aims to achieve
- Benefit – Explain why this story delivers user value
- Estimate – Assign story points/time to approximate level of effort
- Acceptance Criteria – Define conditions to satisfy the user story
We’ll outline best practices around each area.
Identifying the User
Clearly determining the user gives context around who the story affects. Some examples of user types:
- As an account holder…
- As an administrator…
- As a mobile app user…
Keep these user descriptions consistent across your project.
Describing the User Need
Summarize what the user wants to accomplish in 10-15 words. As much as possible, avoid technical jargon and focus on goals meaningful to end users. For example:
- Reset my password
- Pay for my purchase
- Find nearby store locations
Explaining User Benefits
The benefit explains why this story matters to the designated user. Ask “so that” to elicit the benefit. For example:
- So I can access my account
- So I can complete my transaction
- So I can visit their store
Benefits showcase how meeting that need provides core user value.
Estimating Level of Effort
Determine rough story point estimates to signify how much effort a story will take to implement. This process happens collaboratively during planning sessions before a sprint kicks off.
Standard units for estimates include:
- Story points – Relative sizing based on effort
- Hours – Predicted hours to complete tasks
- Days – Timeline translated into number of working days
Estimates help teams gauge workload, staff projects, and track velocity.
Defining Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance criteria outline the requirements a user story must meet to satisfy stakeholder needs. Common best practices around defining acceptance criteria include:
- Write criteria in user-centric rather than technical language
- Frame as testable “Given-When-Then” conditions (e.g. Given correct old password entered, when new password submitted, then account password resets successfully)
- Limit 3-5 criteria per story
- Include validation steps for negative scenarios
Acceptance criteria give teams measurable outcomes to design tests around when qualifying whether user stories meet agreed standards.
Writing Good User Stories: Key Tips
Based on industry-wide agile best practices, keep these considerations around writing user stories top of mind:
Keep it simple
Resist overloading a single user story. If it becomes too complex, break it down into multiple smaller stories focused on discrete objectives. Start heavy and simple.
Focus on value
Emphasize how the desired functionality will create end user value rather than leading with internal mandates. Value-focused stories build intuitive products.
Make it testable
Frame the need and benefit in easy to validate language. This will facilitate development of clear, effective acceptance criteria tied to the essence of the story.
Write from their perspective
Take an outside-in approach from the user’s standpoint using their vocabulary to describe capabilities. This grounds stories around real people rather than a process.
Create standalone stories
Craft stories that can get built and validate value independently vs. overly interdependent steps. These become more tricky to schedule and make progress on.
Keep it negotiable
View user stories as starting points open to team discussion rather than rigid specifications. Maintain flexibility for uncovering better solutions.
Tracking User Stories
A key advantage of housing stories in Jira vs. external documents comes down to tracking capabilities. Jira provides built-in tracking around story advancement.
For example, stories move through various stages such as:
- To Do
- In Progress
- In Review
- Done
Based on status category changes, teams can view user story state at both individual and cumulative levels.
Common reports include:
- Story status breakdown – % complete, in progress, to do
- Sprint burndown – Work remaining per sprint
- Velocity – Average story points per sprint
These reports help spot bottlenecks, diagnose pacing issues, and boost planning abilities when taking on multi-story feature development.
Acceptance Testing User Stories
Acceptance testing confirms that user stories satisfy defined done criteria per stakeholder specifications.
When teams complete feature code tied to a given story, the typical next steps involve:
- Evaluating if acceptance criteria conditions execute as expected end-to-end
- Running tests against negative scenarios and edge cases
- Logging any defects or holes to address
- Requesting product owner sign-off on validated stories
Ideally, teams receive automated testing support to accelerate execution of acceptance test suites. This allows for efficient continued regression testing as well.
Conclusion
Well-articulated user stories serve as the beating heart of agile development. Following the principles and best practices covered in this guide will help your team iterate quickly on the right solutions focused squarely on delivering exceptional customer value. Great user stories yield great products.
Within Jira, you now have an expert grasp of formulating stories, tracking progress, and validating completion via acceptance testing. As you continue your agile journey, reference this guide as a manual for amplifying how you leverage user stories on each and every project.
