Use "User Story Map" to split requirements and accurately define product MVP

Use "User Story Map" to split requirements and accurately define product MVP
If you are a startup and haven’t used user story maps yet, please give it a try. What I’m going to introduce to you today is the requirement splitting method from Jeff Patton’s “User Story Map”. The success of a product lies in meeting user needs better than its competitors, which is not an easy task. This is because you will always fall into the following three traps to a greater or lesser extent: >>1. Understand the demand itself and be able to grasp the core pain points; >>2. Choose to meet it in your own unique way; >>3. Split the demand realization into stories of different sizes, and do it faster and better than your competitors. This article will focus on the third pitfall, and is especially applicable to multi-demand, complex products. After mastering the story map method, you will find that whether you are an interactive product manager who likes to observe user behavior and extract user behavior patterns, a user operation who focuses on user experience and finds user high points, or any other role that participates in the business process and collaborates with other departments, this is a technique to maintain a panoramic perspective during demand splitting, and a more effective way of communication during departmental collaboration.

What is MVP?

A minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest product release that can produce the desired results. It needs to be made clear here, which users is the “minimum” for? What goals do these users need to achieve through the software? In addition, few products are completely new. They often add new features to existing products or improve existing features. Therefore, we can also talk about the minimum viable solution: the minimum viable solution refers to the smallest release plan that can produce the expected results.

Instead of focusing on learning and verifying the assumptions of the first MVP release, we also need to set up smaller-scale experiments and prototypes to verify our guesses about the minimum and viable product. Therefore, MVP is not a product at all: the minimum viable product is the smallest experiment done to verify the hypothesis.

How to find MVP?

Oftentimes, there are so many things to do to create a perfect product that we quickly become overwhelmed. The completion of all functions seems very important, but when we think back to those specific users and the basic functions for users to achieve their goals, we will find that these users and demands can be summarized in one or two concise sentences. First, create a user story map. Everyone comes from different teams, each team focuses on different areas, but the goal is to deliver a product. Everyone must work together to deliver this product. Release plans cannot be made based on the perspective of each team, and all dependencies must be displayed in a visual way. Story maps are used to build consensus and help teams visualize dependencies. The process of creating a story map can help uncover pitfalls in your design. We often assume that other teams will take care of things when they don’t really know they need to. Sometimes you can find that some designs have missed the key links between key features. When the team is building the user story map, they can discover the missing parts in advance. Hold a user story map discussion meeting! What you need to prepare are: >>1. A relatively undisturbed space; >>2. A whiteboard (if the product is complex and involves many user behaviors, you can use the floor, glass wall, etc.); >>3. A discussion group of about five people (product, business, interactive design, operation , etc., note that the number of people should not be too large, otherwise the information will easily get out of control); >>4. Several sticky notes (preferably in different colors).

The purpose of this meeting is to have all participants use sticky notes, one for each action, to describe all user behaviors that occur in the product usage scenario from left to right along a timeline. Things that happen at the same time should be written below the same position; when different possible actions appear in the same scene, different branch actions may be formed; until returning to the main line or ending the branch line. During this description process, it may be very noisy because everyone will argue about the order in which the user actions occur. When you are in the middle of it, you will also discover details that you have never thought of.

It is these details that have the potential to benefit everyone involved. It is important to remember that this is a bottom-up approach that does not establish any pre-assumptions for yourself; it allows you to forget whether you have ever judged a behavior as "necessary" or "non-necessary." When the panoramic picture appears, you can merge the simultaneous and irrelevant ones, and you will see which user experiences are very important at the key nodes of the route. Looking at your own product from the perspective of user stories will give you a sudden and clear sense of the overall situation. After the story map is completed, we will find that there are too many things to do and the project deadline is almost endless to complete all the things. At this time, you need to ask: "To achieve xxx effect, we need to use all the function codes?" Focus on the expected results outside the system to determine what functions are needed within the system? Second, divide the MVP release plan. Divide the content that needs to be done in the first release on the user story map, and complete the rest in subsequent releases. The thought process is this: "If we can achieve xx results within xx expectations, the product will look good when it is launched. All the features in the release plan are basic needs of users and are amazing and eye-catching." Focus on the results, that is, what users can use and perceive after the release, and the release plan should be result-oriented. Next, divide the release roadmap. The entire story map contains a lot of things, but the time required to complete all the features is unacceptable. Focus on the most important goal and identify what the first release should include. We divide the notes on the user story map horizontally, and stick a note on the left side of each release with a small amount of text describing the expected results. Then move cards between releases, matching the expected outcomes of each release as closely as possible. Thus, on the left side of the entire map is a list of published names that identify the target outcomes. This is the release roadmap. The secret to prioritizing development work is focusing on specific target outcomes. Finally, prioritize outcomes, not features.

The secret to breaking down a large output is to focus on small, specific outcomes. Behind the results is the change in specific behavior of specific users participating in specific activities. Select users who will participate in the event by focusing on upcoming events. However, focusing on active users does not simultaneously meet the needs of other users, who will continue to have their needs met through the existing system for a relatively long period of time. You can't please everyone at once.

summary

Your job is not to develop software, but to meet user needs better than your competitors. Use story maps to output the release plan of MVP, for less development, for faster learning, and for on-time release. When you are making a user story map, remember these three things: Describe the user story as comprehensively as possible; Visualize your user behavior; Stand in front of the map and re-examine: What do we want to achieve in the next development stage?

This article was compiled and published by @京贝贝 (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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