Story map template

What is a Story map?

A story map is a visual board that breaks down product development from the user’s perspective. It identifies user needs and the features that should be prioritized to meet them, and creates a framework to track development progress. Story maps enable collaboration across product, design, marketing, sales, and customer success teams, and create a holistic picture of the customer journey.

Story mapping was developed by Jeff Patton in 1995. In his framework, all user stories start from the following statement: As a [persona], I want to [complete x goal], so that I can [achieve y desired outcome].

Example using a grocery delivery app: As a [busy parent], I want to [take care of grocery shopping quickly], so I can [spend more time with my kids].

Once you have the story statement, you can fill in the steps it will take to complete the narrative of that customer’s journey in TheyDo.

How to use a story map to streamline the development cycle

Using a story map for your next product cycle will unblock creativity, as well as help with feature prioritization and alignment across teams. A story map can:

• Show your ICP’s most urgent pain points

• Identify the steps needed to develop an MVP

• Monitor progress of solutions

• Provide transparency into the feature development process

As you create more story maps, the benefits multiply. For instance, you can see commonalities across user journeys, generate ideas and opportunities for future development cycles, and see how specific user journeys contribute to company goals.

Story map template in TheyDo

The Story Map template utilizes TheyDo’s existing features for building customer journeys, including:

• Journey phases: broad overviews of key parts of the journey narrative

• Steps that must be taken within each phase to move onto the next phase

• Product features that are being developed to address each step

• Space to include versioning and additional releases

Who is this template for?

Primarily the story map template serves:

• Product owners and managers

• Product designers

• Service designers

However, story maps benefit from input across teams, including:

• Marketing

• Sales

• Customer Success

The most complete story map is a collaborative effort, where all teams contribute their unique knowledge of the customer and product.