Job Stories & User Stories
Translate requirements into stories that a team can pick up and build. Prefer job stories over user stories — situations are more actionable than personas.
Why Job Stories Over User Stories
User stories anchor on a persona: "As a project manager..." But the same person behaves differently depending on context. A project manager at 9am triaging is doing a different job than at 3pm reporting to stakeholders.
Job stories anchor on the situation, which is what actually drives behavior.
| Format | Example | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Job story: When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [outcome] | When I'm reviewing pull requests before standup, I want to see which ones block other work, so I can prioritize reviews that unblock the team | Captures context that shapes the solution |
| User story: As a [role], I want to [action], so that [benefit] | As a tech lead, I want to see PR priorities, so that I can review efficiently | Vague on when/why this matters |
Use user stories if the team is already fluent in them. Don't fight process for its own sake. But write the situation into the description either way.
Writing Good Stories
A good story is independent, negotiable, valuable, estimable, small, and testable (INVEST).
| Good | Bad | Why it's bad |
|---|---|---|
| When I'm halfway through a form and get interrupted, I want my progress saved, so I can resume without re-entering data | The system should auto-save forms | No situation, no outcome, not testable |
| When I receive a notification about a price drop, I want to see the item and the new price inline, so I can decide to buy without opening the app | As a user, I want push notifications | Too vague, no context, no clear done state |
| When I'm comparing two plans side by side, I want differences highlighted, so I can spot what matters without reading every line | Build a comparison table with highlighting | That's a solution, not a story |
Breaking Large Stories Down
If a story takes more than 3 days to build, it's too big. Split by:
- Workflow step — "When I start..." vs "When I'm halfway through..." vs "When I finish..."
- Data variation — Handle the common case first, edge cases as separate stories
- Platform — Mobile vs desktop if the experience genuinely differs
- User maturity — First-time vs returning vs power user
Don't split by technical layer (frontend/backend/database). Stories should deliver visible user value.
Writing Acceptance Criteria
Every story needs acceptance criteria in Given/When/Then format. These are the contract between product and engineering.
Story: When I'm reviewing PRs before standup, I want to see which ones
block other work, so I can prioritize unblocking reviews.
Acceptance Criteria:
Given I have PRs assigned to me for review
When I open the review queue
Then PRs that block other PRs or deployments appear at the top
Given a PR has been waiting for review for more than 24 hours
When I view my review queue
Then it is flagged with a time-waiting indicator
Given no PRs are assigned to me
When I open the review queue
Then I see an empty state with a message (not a blank screen)Rules for acceptance criteria:
- One behavior per Given/When/Then block. Don't chain multiple outcomes.
- Include the sad path. What happens when there's no data, an error, or unexpected input?
- Stay observable. "The system processes it quickly" is not observable. "The results appear within 2 seconds" is.
- Skip implementation. "The API returns a 200" is an engineering test, not acceptance criteria.
Sizing Guidance
| Size | Signal | Action |
|---|---|---|
| < 1 day | Might be a task, not a story | Combine with related work or keep as-is if it delivers standalone value |
| 1-3 days | Right-sized | Ship it |
| 3-5 days | Borderline | Look for a natural split point |
| > 5 days | Too big | Split by workflow step or data variation |
Sizing is for the whole slice — design, build, test. Not just coding time.
Output Format
Deliver stories as a numbered list. Group them by workflow stage or theme. Each story gets:
- Story statement (job story format)
- Acceptance criteria (Given/When/Then)
- Size estimate (S/M/L or day count)
- Dependencies (other stories that must ship first, if any)