User Story Mapping as a plugin for Scrum

Scrum does not solve all problems

What I like most about Scrum is that it doesn't try to solve all the world's problems. Jeff Sutherland, like the other initiators of the agile movement, recognized the main problems of traditional software development and proposed an alternative approach using simple principles (see the Agile Manifesto) that addresses precisely these problems. Scrum is a concrete, pragmatic application of this approach. Each of the few rules in Scrum has its purpose, and the whole thing wouldn't work without them. Scrum is straightforward and uncluttered. If something is missing, it can easily be added. Scrum is essentially plug-in capable. However, it's best not to tinker with the existing rules – in my experience, that almost always results in a mess.

The Backlog Silence

One of the topics Scrum, for example, remains silent on is how to create and maintain the backlog. While Jeff Sutherland's book includes a section where he describes how he handled this in his large project, it's definitely not as sophisticated as the rest of the concept. And it's one of the areas that I think absolutely needs a plugin.

Lego4Scrum

When I was preparing my course “Lego for Scrum” a few weeks ago (which, by the way, can now be booked at the Infometis Academy and offers an incredible amount of play, fun, enjoyment, know-how and a great certificate *advertisement off*), I found it foreseeable that questions would arise in the course and that I wanted to offer more than what Scrum provides.

In my search for the holy grail, I came across a book and concept that fascinated me: "User Story Mapping" by Jeff Patton. This little primer is very entertaining and, similar to "Doing Twice in Half the Time," tells the author's story about a software project.

User Story Mapping

User Story Mapping is based on the idea that every software project contains thousands of ideas that should be implemented (the backlog), and therefore a way is needed to ensure that the most important ones are implemented first. The book guides you step-by-step through each rule and derives the next step in the process from the next problem. By working through these steps, you end up with a large board containing all the ideas and processes, as well as a clear prioritization of what should be implemented and in what order. For those who have made it their mission to put their users at the center of their work, User Story Mapping – when used correctly – is a tool that enables precisely this goal.

As always when you present such a concept in the courses, the question quickly arises about software that allows you to implement the concept digitally. Indeed, constantly manually moving Post-it notes around becomes rather tedious over time, especially when you've accumulated hundreds and want to insert a new process right in the middle.

StoriesOnBoard

After a thorough evaluation of the products available on the market, I finally found what I was looking for here: https://storiesonboard.com/ offers, in my opinion, pretty much everything a story mapper could want at a fair price. For example, it allows real-time collaboration, supports personas, is well-organized, and you can export the maps to all sorts of formats, including Jira.

I was delighted to learn about this new tool and enjoy using it whenever a project encounters difficulties with the structured capture and prioritization of requirements. For those interested in learning more, I recommend the book mentioned above or our "Lego4Scrum" course – where it can be experienced and learned firsthand.

Good luck!