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Importance of User Stories & Use Cases

Now we have user stories. What user stories are is usually so. Now we have We have our scenario. This in your is free long is like giant paragraph and for user stories. What we're doing is we're talking about, Okay, we're explaining the who, what and why. So we're breaking a wholesome Nero down into actions. So here it's telling me, as a consumer, I need to set alarm in the app. And why, So that I can remember to floss once a day. So here we're gonna We will remove the persona name Waters we will use, um, a role for them. Right? So, for example, this is really easy to track if this is saying okay. So, as an administrator, as a system administrator, I need to do something in me in the, um in the admin dashboard so that I can perform. So until task, right, and then another and another user sore. You can say, while as a consumer, I need Teoh, I need to, um, click on the submit button so that I can sum in my order and purchase my shoots right and make a purchase. Um, and with all these use...

rs stories, So for foran application, you have a bunch of user stories, right? And then this is a great place for you to start prioritizing them ready so you can look at different feature. So the features, other waas So what is happening? What are the water actions that is taking place in in your product? You can look at that and say, Okay, what is this? Must have in my product, or can we built this later and it will be okay for the user, right? That doesn't have to be there. Um, that's he an example of this would be, um we can say is a consumer. Um, we're still in the my set off Sally who needs to be reminded of brushing her teeth so we can say OK, as a consumer, I need to set an alarm in the app so that I can remember to brush my teeth twice a day. So So this is like a must have, because if she doesn't have the alarm clock, she might just miss it, right? And then that because of that, it doesn't fulfill her goal. And then here's another user story. As a consumer, I need a toothbrush to I need a toothbrush who like to playing music so that I can enjoy brushing my teeth twice a day is like, Wow, is it really necessary, Right? Like if you think about the cost of manufacturing a tooth Russia has, like, that plays a song, um is a lot more manpower going into it, right? So then, like, if you obviously this is this is like a really obvious example of one what to have and what not to have, um, where you're building realistic product. Obviously some of these details of Super Minute then it's really it's up to the entire team days inside. Okay. Is this really necessary for this particular user, right? Like let's think about it. If this is not, then let's just poured down on the party list. And that's bump the other, more important stories up So they can. They can complete and reach their goals, right? Um, the benefit of uses story. So it breaks. Now it's a narrow into multiple con sites statements, so it's manageable. It associates an action with a reason. So the who, what and why it is a much is much more manageable than a scenario because you can break down the stories and then you can group them together. Um, again, Um, even, like, categorizing them, you can tag them with different, um, mindset. It clearly differentiates the action and the needs among users. So let's say let's say we have three personas going on for this reminder app. Right? Um, for the for the manager, um, or for the product team, right? For the project manager, we might even say, Okay. Wow, User A is our early adopter. So let's tackle all those stories first. And then after we finished tackling the early adopters, then we can tackle the other two personas who are, um, who are the mass market. Then you can also break it down. And then you might even see some similar similar needs among the users. And you can you also to see, um, needs specific for different user. So we might even character characterizes, owes us edge cases and say, Okay, well, we'll do those when we get there, but not right now. Let's just focus on the core product right now. Um, it also serves as a communication tool between designer and developer, because what happens to these stories, they usually get converted into way into a ticket. So they can. So the developer is gonna look at these stories as tasks that they would hit in the development cycle. And when you look at these stories, you can say, OK, we're gonna build Bill Story A, B and C this week, and we're gonna do the enough next week. But actually, Story E contains a lot of, um, really minute tasks that's gonna expand into two weeks. So there's like, a lot, a lot of like negotiation going back and forth. But this served as a great tool to keep everyone on track on what is being built right now. All right, so use their story. I think that's pretty concise already about us. Even break it down further. Great use cases. So now Zane's like nodding his head. So now that we have a who, what and why, we're really getting down into the details, right? So now we're actually gonna list out the steps required to make this action happen. So looking back at our user story, it's just I need to set an alarm. Okay, Well, what constitutes setting an alarm? Um, one two. Okay, so user is going to locate the setting screen, right? And then to the user is going to locate the alarms and maybe might be an icon in my be part of the list view. Just me might be like a button that the person taps on. So step three taps on Steph Loss Reminder Ray. So now we know we know what that label is going to look like. So the user tats on that, and then Step four selects time of the day to reminded to be reminded at. Then step five. After they select the time of the day, the user top set the Now the entire action is complete, So the benefit of use cases is that it is a step by step blessed by the user must do to achieve eagle or to complete inaction, and this now becomes super tangible. In a development standpoint, it gives you unless of the features. It also helps you identify primary and secondary features within a product so you can say, Wow, you know what? The user doesn't tap on this guy that much, so let's just remove it for now or less, not build it until in until two months later. It also helps you measure the complexity or of a story. Ah, lot of time in development. You Are you here? Um, the engineers talk about this a lot. Like pointing a story. How many points is on a story, right. That's That's pretty much them figuring out how much time it would take to complete a story. So this is that That was a very pretty lightweight story. It's only has five or light wake used casings. Guys only have five steps, but But then, like maybe some of the story because it's super complex is gonna have, like, 20 steps to complete something that you might say. OK, well, maybe we can break this into to use cases. So is a lot more manageable. Um, so at this, at this point in the use case level, we actually took away the persona already, right, because this is just going into the very technical feature driven, um, featured driven, um, development mindset already. And it does lack the knees because we're just getting down into the nitty gritty right? But if you want to want to include the needs that go back up one level, go back to the user story and get to the Y part. But then, like after you finished that for everyone is on the same page with that, then we can go down here and do use cases, and the next step is after you figuring out the use cases. You might not even need to write this out step by step. But now it's time for you to create a task flow, and then the these are like the flow charts that you would use. Um, this is pretty much visualizing the use cases, so task flow is a diagram that indicates the path the user must follow in order to complete a task within a product. So my example here. ISS All right, so the user is on home screen and the user goes to the setting screen. The user taps on set reminders, and actually in the reminder section, there's three different choices that the user must select. Right? So there's, uh, do you want to set brush brushing? Reminder. Do you want to set flossing reminder, or do you want to set changed toothbrush? Reminder. So here the user is saying, Okay, I still liked flossing. Um, it has a conditional route at this point, and that's what the diamond is stands for. And it's the system is pretty much asking. Well, has the reminder been set already? If yes, then is gonna populate the existing reminder time. And then you get to edit that time. If no, Then it's time to add a new reminder for you. Um, so obviously this is a very straightforward example, and it can definitely get really complex. Um, my suggestion for that is also just break these down into specific tasks is okay for is okay. To not have, like a giant task is not even a task well and more. It's very much like a task map, like a flow giant map of how the entire computer works. Like that's really that's way too much of way too complex. Oh, always break it down into task and always label your task flow. For example, For this one, I would probably put a text label up top and let people know that this is set loss reminder, right? And then maybe on another screen, I can say, um, I can also create another flow that, um, that's called change, said change to brush reminder and maybe on that one, instead of having a time stamp or instead of setting the time in a hour by hour, are in minute level is more of like a month and a date level ray. So So always break it down, keep it clean and simple. And make sure the that the point of having task flow is that, um it is also an abstract walk through of the product that can be handed off to another team member. And, um, is a visual representation of how one interacts with the system. Um, and it might even go across multiple products, for example, um, Sally, using the toothbrush with an NFC sticker and a mobile app right now, that's two separate product in to to demonstrate that in the flow chart, I might use this different color for different products to let people know when people when these two system are interacting. So visually speaking, when you're looking at the map of salve, you can see okay, there are interacting at this point and they're interacting over there. Um, you might also hear that hear other terms on. Some people call this flow chart. Some people call this workflow, which is fine and I think is very important to keep in mind that whoever is looking at your flow chart needs to understand it, too. So definitely don't don't let it be too complex and always just keep it simple. And now we're going to take some questions. We have some great questions that have been coming in from our online audience. Is a raven. See? Was saying, Ah, use cases similar to task analysis? Or are they essentially the same thing? I think they are. Yeah. Um, it's definitely as like there's I feel like there's always a lot of different terms calling these tools. And then I also know that when you're talking about, um, task flow is very different for the task. Full and user experience, design and the task flow in actual like data structure or data modelling. So I would like to kind of stress that at the end of the day, all the visual assets that you creative for user experiences for their their communication tool. So the another day you should always keep in mind, too, that other people who are less tech savvy might be going through these. So So, um, when you are creating your when you are, take creating your use cases. Keep a symbol. When you're writing your users scenarios, keep it simple. Don't leave out any important details, obviously, but don't override it like a big paragraph of right. And then at the end of day at thes these are your tools to demonstrate to your product team to demonstrate to your clients. Yeah, I just wondering them typically, like throughout the process. How much time do you allocate to each each of the components that you just mentioned? So how much time did you spend on user scenarios? How much time you spend on use cases and so on? Hmm. Let's see. Sometimes I don't even do story boarding like a lot of times, I would just have it in my mind. Um, for example, I don't I don't really write out, um, use cases. I don't really write out the tasks, um, in a text format. A lot of times I just go straight into building out the flow chart myself. And obviously I think if you are less visual person than writing it out, step by step might be a great tool for you to get started on. Um, sometimes I don't even do. Um, sometimes I don't do storyboard the way I would do it with characters in mind, for example, sometimes I would just I would just start sketching, right? So I would probably dio. Let's see, we were talking about something before about a feature. So let's go. Let's kind of get a quick exercise going. I know we have a couple of minutes, love. So going back, Teoh the toothbrush reminder thing. Um, let's think of a feature and let's let's do some quick. Why quick Now for me. Why, for me Sworn excitement. Let's do some quick sketching and of the of like of of, ah, feature that we can think of. Um, But you can have it. Maybe you could take a picture of aesthetic in. See if your teeth for getting whiter over today's. Ah, Okay. That's cool. Has very cool. No. Okay, so so you. If that's the objective, Um, what I would start thinking of is Okay, well, so this person is standing was Just use your your your hair. So, um, so you're standing in front of the year, and then you're taking picture, right? And then And then once you do that, you might say easier to do a selfie and probably like a portrait load eso it might have a little indication of, like, put your teeth here. Great. And then you take a photo, and then and and now you you have all these gallery of your teeth going on, and then at the end of the day, that maybe this is like the widest one. Um, so at this point, let's see and then eso afterwards. So after here, maybe maybe we can also think of a reminder right to take picture every single day. Um, so what? I would say it's okay. Well, so after taking a photo, we might come to age, huh? Oh, I was gonna add. Maybe we have a trend bar so you can see the trend of whiteness. Oh, whiteness at the near the bottom of the gallery. Or I'm not sure how you were you. It puts the trend of the shade of your yeah teeth. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm gonna finish adding a reminder. Yeah, that's what you wanted, right? You're getting whiter. I got a gallery of photos, but I have no idea if I'm getting whiter or not. Right, So So I'm also thinking maybe this grid form is too boring, right? Then Maybe what we do is we have Yeah, maybe we do only have a strip here, and then it's gonna show you the orders. One of the bottom just to keep the same mentality of our of like, of how browsing photos work now, right? Instagram to a Twitter, Um, Facebook, all half the latest posts on top. So I'm gonna say, OK, so these does. This is my teeth. When I start out with and I say I gradually go up is going to be lighter and lighter, and then I can actually see my teeth here in a photo strip. Great. So here's mine t he and then you know all that. Yes. Suggestion. It might be another feature that you just have a single image that's kind of more of a hyper laps with just a toolbar that's time back in time. It's go forward in time, and it just, you know, like a hyper laps. Um, yeah, single image. So maybe it becomes like that was like a like a circular navigation of all the time Stamp a line. You basically have your multiple shots overlaying not re overlaying, but just fading in and fading out. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Yeah. Okay, so So let's say this. So we have to kind of say, this process is going to recede, Paulie, over 30 days and then after the third of the 30 day zone, maybe it's like a photo album, right? So you can say, Do you want to share those with your friends to show you? Yes. Before we share can I can, like, minimize it so I don't spam them. Like I can have my darkest day and my brightest day photo that you could send to them as opposed to the whole. I was thinking of like, this is like an experience than that. You can just send this whole experience to that. So it's like a photo all bone, right, Well, so you can almost well. And then you can like, watch people panorama. Yeah, it only because I do you want to share? Then we can dio Ah, bird. Um do you want to share in the now Syria Super proud of her progress. Uh, and then actually, Sierra ascended to her friend Sally. And then this actually prompt Sally to create her own photo album, too? Yes, some kind of functionality Where your Maybe you're sharing it with your dentist. Or maybe there's some kind of dentist interaction so your dentist can see the progress versus when you show up for your dental appointment. So is there anything I should know? Is there How's your brushing going? They ask you a lot of questions, and you have to update them. But this kind of gives them kind of a record of, like, what's been happening since your last appointment. Maybe kind of dentist interaction there. Maybe you get tips and from a dentist, like, you know, I noticed that your teeth and get is wider. You know, from this time this time, maybe you could start doing this. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people don't go. Yeah, fine time. Actually, I like these idea because there's a side note. The color your gums. Actually, the shade of your gums actually dictates. Well, you don't want to say it, but you feel the gun disease can be is indicated by the color of your gums. So if you take a photo of your teeth, you might also want take a photo of the gums as well. Well, what what is This is a track. So what if this is like a pure medical app? So let's say yes. So let's say after your most reason teeth cleaning. Your dentist says, All right, joy, I got right down to you, right? You're doing a really bad job of, like, keeping your gum healthy. So I want you to go download this app and just tell me Give me, um, your track record fallen until the next teeth clean, which can be six months. Right? So as actually go on. So this is more of like, maybe like a social, like a field. Feeling good, apple? Hey, I'm doing this and my teeth because in white or what? Er yeah, I grade. And then maybe maybe one of the tooth big toothpaste companies actually sponsoring this, right? So it is. Actually, there's, like a law product endorsement going on and say, Hey, if you use our teeth whitening thing, you can use this up. So now let's talk about the gum tracking one whom that's great. So, um, maybe what you do is every single day. Um, it actually tells you it actually has an instruction and panel about, like, the lighting of your bathrooms to make sure you get the right color. Great. So then you can say, OK, I know what I'm doing next. Um, let's see. So it's still there is a photo thing going on. So and then do you take it to Do you take the gun like here? Or do you Where do you just do it? It almost my It would be a larger version of what? To storyboard failure. Yeah. You just include the gums, Not just the teeth. Okay. Yeah. So you have to be much per se. In terms of Lord, the shot doesn't need to be much more. Right. So in that case, we can just say, Make sure you have the white a smile. Great. And then you might include the gum part. Yeah, and that now, let's see. So there's that There's that and then presented to the doctors now or no, no. Yet do you want it is like a weekly thing or is it is a monthly thing that the doctor would receive an email. I think mother would be better. Doctors and Dennis do not want to be bothered with, like, 100 email. Yeah, I want to see one before you come in, you know? And they might look at it or have their assistant Look at it. Yeah. Yeah, something really easy and quick to maybe just percentages before your next appointment. Yeah, maybe a week before something and for the advance till it might even be Word even does this assessment for you. Oh, yeah, you could have shown was build it into your whitening tool because it can tell you whether you were suspects that you have the onset of any gun issues. It could almost be one of those kind of. Okay, so So let's let's get crazy. Here. Locate. Ready? So maybe maybe you're just pinpointing you. So you could you turn on your rear facing camera and you open up your mouth and and then it actually tells you, see if this is a okay. They actually like tracks and tells you the data raised, maybe. Oh, no. Fancy data placeholders and actually tells you like, how many millimeter It's like receding or I don't know. You call. It just highlights problem areas, right? So we can also do that. You can say you didn't brush this part enough. What do you like? Okay, crab. I need to do it again. So you go back, you touch up on the section, and then you point point it in the mirror again. Well, or maybe you just have a little button. This is you know, that's just call your dentist that your dentist is right there on a little button. You can call them right away if you want. I mean, just they don't want to be father. I guess you could correlate with actual product that has a pressure sensitive measuring device on the toothbrush. On was how long a timer. So you actually kind of get rated on how good of a job you did brushing. Were you soft enough? Did you do enough time? You know, maybe it has a gyroscope in it, so it knows. Were you at the right angle going on Twitter the other way, and then it kind of gives you feedback at the end of your session going a good job That was an A plus brochure. That was C minus. You missed your molars, That kind of thing. Yeah, I think. Don't they do that on like you fit pad. So, like when you're standing on a pad and you're doing yoga and tell us you like, if you're balancing right? Yeah, Totally. Okay, so let's see. So this is usually my route. Like, I would just I would start thinking about, um, the screens already, because for me, I don't think I need to go to go through the whole like, this is Sally. This needs to do that. I think like you just built on experience, like at the end of the I got the end of the day. You're like, OK, yeah, I know this user already. I gotta think in their mindset, and then you just start building the screens, and then usually, after this is done, then I would start drawing the, um, the flow chart. And I would even as skip use cases and unless it's it's super complicated, and I don't need to go into that detail. So what I would do here is so for this for Let's see, for this scenario, I would probably even say Okay, so stair is a, um, tutorial screen. And then because you only have a next button, then you go into Ah, so this is let's say this is first time, user. Then what I would do is I would go to I would open it up. And then there's a tutorial. Maybe because I think, like, less tech savvy people would use this to. And then you need the tutorial to tell you about the lighting of the home. So it's important to include that. And then after that, there will be a, um because this is IOS app. We have to ask your camera permission. So that's where they get that. Um, let all pop up, right? Not ask you. Um Hey, dentist apples like to use you camera, activate your camera and you press that. Then the camera turns on. So now you are on. So you are of the camera screen and then after that, on the camera, so it's gonna show you a little bit of data here and there, and then it might ask you if you want to take a picture or not race. So this is just showing you really time feedback. And then you might say, OK, I want to take a picture. So So here is a descendant point Issa's take picture question, Mike. Then you go into, um, you would only go through this path. It's yes. Um, if you obviously there's, like, a lot of these little technical points. Um, What? I want you guys to look up is, um it's something called Garrett I A So think is t a r and Jesse James Garrett actually created a bunch of these visual cowbell visual vocabulary necessary to creative flow charts. So if you were interested to read more about all the different connection points, definitely check. Check out. Check that out. Um, So what I'm doing is okay. Tutorial caramel, take a picture. Yes. Um, the picture is taken. Then I can say, um, I can the ABM I even ask to sent to dentists. Right. Um so if yes, it's gonna bring up my mail app. Um, if no, it's only going to save too gallery, so that is usually my flow. So at the end of the day, I'm like, Okay, this is how that feature work