What Is Story Mapping In Agile Business Analysis?

According to the IIBA:

Story Mapping is used to assist in creating understanding of product functionality, the flow of usage, and to assist with prioritizing product delivery.

Story mapping consists of ordering user stories along two independent dimensions. The “map” arranges user activities along the horizontal axis roughly in the order in which the user would perform the task. Down the vertical axis, user stories are ordered by priority and/or increasing sophistication of the implementation.

Given a story map so arranged, the first horizontal row represents a “walking skeleton“, a barebones but usable version of the product. Working through successive rows fleshes out the product with additional functionality.

Story Mapping Elements

There are three main story elaboration elements, themes or activities, stories or features and ranked priority order.

Themes Or Activities

The team gathers for the discussion to identify and agree upon the primary steps or activities in the user journey. These are listed along the top horizontal axis.

Stories Or Features

User stories are then placed beneath the primary steps or activities

Ranked Priority

Once all the stories are outlined, then the team needs to move the tasks and activities up and down the columns and rows, according to their importance to determine priority.

Here is an example of a story map:

 

Inclusive & Interactive

Story mapping invites everyone to be involved because the map is built in real-time and collaboratively. As stories are being mapped to the overall workflow, there is ample opportunity to challenge, add, and edit, all relative to the overall goal and not focusing on a discrete task or item.

By working on the story map as a team, you create a shared understanding. Everyone who exits the session is on the same page regarding what’s important, why it’s important, and how it fits into the overarching goal. And since you’re not allowed to “move on” until each user story and how it plugs into the overall narrative is fully understood by everyone, you’ll avoid countless wasted hours of developers and designers creating things they “think” meet the objectives yet fall short in reality.

Never Done

Story maps are continual works in progress. As steps are completed, new ones get prioritized, and additional steps are added. Meanwhile, user feedback and competitive analysis uncover new requirements. Reassessing your story map regularly is healthy and recommended.

Strengths Of Story Mapping

• Helps in understanding what exactly the customers want
• Supports easier prioritization
• Communicates the big picture

Limitations Of Story Mapping

• Provides less value in not process-oriented contexts
• Does not analyze or explain dependencies between requirements

In Summary

The backbone of story mapping is the core set of steps a user must complete to accomplish their goal. Beneath each step are the details for each of the larger steps.

What really makes story mapping work is its reliance on visuals as part of an interactive, collaborative process.