{"head":{"title":"What Is a User Story? Definition and Template | OceanLab","description":"A user story describes a feature from the point of view of the person who needs it. The usual template, how to size one, an example and common mistakes.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/glossary/user-story"},"crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"Glossary","path":"/glossary"},{"name":"user story","path":"/glossary/user-story"}],"slug":"user-story","term":"User story","aka":["story"],"category":"Running a build","short":"A short description of a feature from the point of view of the person who needs it, and why they need it.","body":[["The common template is: as a [type of user], I want [to do something], so that [I get some benefit]. The \"so that\" matters most, because it tells the team what problem they are really solving."],["A story is a placeholder for a conversation, not a full spec. The details go into ",{"href":"/glossary/acceptance-criteria","text":"acceptance criteria"}," underneath it. Good stories are small enough to finish in one ",{"href":"/glossary/sprint","text":"sprint"}," and give some value on their own."]],"why":["Stories keep the team focused on users and outcomes rather than technical tasks. They are easy to order in a ",{"href":"/glossary/backlog","text":"backlog"},", easy to estimate, and easy for non-technical stakeholders to read and challenge."],"example":["As a warehouse supervisor, I want to see which orders are late to pick, so that I can move staff before the courier arrives. Criteria then say what counts as late, how the list is sorted and how often it refreshes."],"inBuild":["Stories are how a discovery scope turns into a backlog. Each milestone in a product build is a group of stories, each with its own acceptance criteria."],"mistakes":[["Writing technical tasks as stories (\"as a developer, I want a database table\")."],["Stories so large they take several sprints. Split them by user step or by case."],["Dropping the \"so that\", which leaves the team guessing at the goal."]],"related":[{"href":"/glossary/acceptance-criteria","label":"Acceptance criteria","detail":"The testable conditions a feature must meet before the person who asked for it accepts it as done."},{"href":"/glossary/backlog","label":"Backlog (product backlog)","detail":"The ordered list of everything still to be built or fixed in a product, with the most important work at the top."},{"href":"/glossary/sprint","label":"Sprint","detail":"A fixed time box, one month or less and often two weeks, in which a team builds and shows a working piece of the product."},{"href":"/glossary/velocity","label":"Velocity","detail":"The amount of finished work a team completes in a sprint, used to forecast how much fits in the time left."}],"tools":[],"links":[{"href":"/software","label":"Software by industry","detail":"Systems we build per industry, with guides and tools."},{"href":"/embedded-engineers","label":"Embedded engineers","detail":"OceanLab engineers working inside your team."}],"sources":[],"legal":false,"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"}