User Stories

Again, users are the most important stakeholders for your apps. It only makes sense to center your app features around them. So, there's the concept of User Stories - a short statement that defines a feature from the user's perspective.

Here are a few examples of user stories for Twitter:

• As a user, I can write and post 140-character blogs.
• As a user, I can view other people's posts.
• As a user, I can follow other people and be informed of their posts.

They are usually concise, one-sentence statements formatted as "As a _, I can _."

This format puts you in the user's shoes. It keeps you focused on their needs.

They are concise for a few reasons:

• It ensures that a user story is direct about its needs
• Easier to read
• It keeps the requirements simple

When writing User Stories, using the one-sentence template above, the term "user" can be replaced with the following:

• Member - if your site/app has authentication, a "member" is typically a user that has an account; ex: "As a member, I can change my preferred credit card."
• Admin - an "admin" is someone who has edit access to pages or user information; ex: "As an admin, I can edit the 'About Us' in the footer."