A User Story is a short, simple description of a feature told from the perspective of the user or customer of the system.

It helps to capture the “who”, “what”, and “why” of a requirement in a way that is understandable to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

User Story

INVEST

A good User Story should follow the INVEST criteria:

  • Independent: The User Story should be self-contained and not dependent on other stories.
  • Negotiable: The User Story should be flexible and open to discussion and changes.
  • Valuable: The User Story should deliver value to the user or customer.
  • Estimable: The User Story should be small enough to be estimated and completed within a single iteration.
  • Small: The User Story should be small enough to be completed within a single iteration.
  • Testable: The User Story should be testable, meaning that it should have clear acceptance criteria that can be used to verify that the story has been implemented correctly.

Job Stories

A Job Story is a more detailed version of a User Story that focuses on the context and motivation behind the user’s needs. It typically follows the format: “When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].”

Other Resources

See Cucumber website for more details on User Stories.

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