4.5. User stories
Last updated
Last updated
A User Story is a method to structure an Epic or Item and define it, that puts the focus on the recipient—the user, or person that should gain value out of the work done. It can be the attorney who receives input from his team on internal matters, but most often it is the client. The User Story can be defined together with the client (or customer in internal projects) and is supposed to help you to put yourself in their shoes and can be the thread that leads you through the project. A User Story describes the perspective/role of the relevant person, what that person wants to achieve and why. If you write User Stories from the point of view of your client, that will help you also gather a better understanding of their needs. This is not to be confused with the point of view your client takes in a legal dispute, but more what they want to achieve.
A user story builds on a simple sentence: As a, I want <outcome/goal>, so that.
When you define a User Story as the guideline for your Epic or Item, it helps you keep the user’s need in mind when defining the details of the Element.
As an additional exercise you can add questions like: How would the Goal change if the person would have a different Role? Who else might have similar Goals? Are there other ways to reach the benefit?
It is important to note that the term “User Story” is often used to describe two things at once. On the one hand, it means the way (method) of describing requirements (As I want <outcome/goal>, so that ) as well as the Item itself, that contains the User Story. So, when someone talks about a User Story that needs to be done, it usually means the actual Item, that needs to get done, that might be described using the method “User Story”.
While his colleagues are deep in their legal work, our interdisciplinary mind and youngest law firm team member Gabriel dives deeper into the Agile methods; and he likes it. On his journey he learns many things they were unaware of, but with the positive feeling that they can learn along the way. Even with missing puzzle pieces, the process would be useful.
The first tool he spends time on during this phase is the “User Story”. As good observers, the attorneys in the team have already had a feeling that it’s not easy to concisely describe what’s needed and to put themselves in their client’s shoes. To his delight, Gabriel identifies the User Story as part of the answer to this challenge. To practice his skill, Gabriel takes a few Epics they have worked on and starts to describe the key outcome, client and why they profit from the outcome. He is honest in noting that it feels strange to describe the outcome in the “I” perspective of the client. Yet, in doing so, he experiences that just being focused on the person for which the desired outcome is described already starts to shift his view on the distinct topics to a more client-driven perspective. Next, he first takes a few of the Items they have worked on and describes them again in the form of a User Story.
User Story for Item 5:
Set up a table to align the arguments before court with the submission/argument, relevant proof, the legal basis, and potential applications to the court. As an attorney, I want to have all arguments and relevant details easy at hand, so that when I go to court and discuss a particular argument, I don’t have to look for the most important information.
User Story
As a __________________________________________________ <role/who is this person>,
I want _________________________________________________________ <outcome/goal>,
So that ______________________________________________________________ < benefit>.
