A User Story Map is a collaborative tool used to visually organize user stories to build a product around the user’s journey. Here’s a summary of its purpose, structure, and key benefits, plus some practical notes for your context:
Purpose of a User Story Map:
Helps teams build a shared understanding of the product by mapping user activities and goals.
Organizes features and requirements to show the big picture, not just isolated tasks.
Ensures product development stays focused on user outcomes and real needs, not just output.
How a Story Map is structured:
Place the user's high-level activities (steps in their journey) from left to right.
Break down each activity into smaller user stories (what the user does to achieve those activities) placed vertically under each step.
The result is a grid where you can prioritize and sequence development: broad (all main activities) and deep (details for each step).
Key points in your organization’s usage:
Story mapping is the backbone of product development, continuously adapted with changing product needs and workshop inputs.
You use pitches and value/effort prioritization to decide what to build next, with User Story Mapping connecting user goals to technical implementation.
Maintains a narrative structure for the product, helps avoid unnecessary features, and provides context for both designers and programmers.
Encourages everyone (not just analysts) to participate and discuss what users need, supporting better conversations and outcomes.
Benefits:
Clarifies priorities and what delivers the greatest value to users.
Encourages validated learning and iterative releases (minimum viable product slices).
Supports robust architecture by keeping development user-centric, rather than feature-focused.
Makes it easy to add new ideas as they arise and track progress collaboratively.
Story Map workflow examples from your context:
User story maps are maintained in Notion and referenced in meetings and product discussions. Changes are coordinated in tools like Figma prior to syncing with Notion for consensus.
Two levels are often used: Level 1 for User Tasks (bigger activities), Level 2 for User Stories (details under each activity).
How to write a User Story:
Follow the template: “As a [16]
Arrange these under main user tasks or high-level goals.
If you want to see practical examples or dig into your team’s current story map, you can check out the linked User Story Map pages and supporting documentation in your workspace.