---
name: user-story-writing-398390c69de1
description: >
  Write effective user stories that capture requirements from the user's
  perspective. Create clear stories with detailed acceptance criteria to guide
  development and define done.
---

# User Story Writing

## Table of Contents

- [Overview](#overview)
- [When to Use](#when-to-use)
- [Quick Start](#quick-start)
- [Reference Guides](#reference-guides)
- [Best Practices](#best-practices)

## Overview

Well-written user stories communicate requirements in a user-focused way, facilitate discussion, and provide clear acceptance criteria for developers and testers.

## When to Use

- Breaking down requirements into development tasks
- Product backlog creation and refinement
- Agile sprint planning
- Communicating features to development team
- Defining acceptance criteria
- Creating test cases

## Quick Start

Minimal working example:

```markdown
# User Story Template

**Title:** [Feature name]

**As a** [user role/persona]
**I want to** [action/capability]
**So that** [business value/benefit]

---

## User Context

- User Role: [Who is performing this action?]
- User Goals: [What are they trying to accomplish?]
- Use Case: [When do they perform this action?]

---

## Acceptance Criteria

Given [precondition]
When [action]
Then [expected result]

Example:
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)
```

## Reference Guides

Detailed implementations in the `references/` directory:

| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| [Story Refinement Process](references/story-refinement-process.md) | Story Refinement Process |
| [Acceptance Criteria Examples](references/acceptance-criteria-examples.md) | Acceptance Criteria Examples |
| [Story Splitting](references/story-splitting.md) | Story Splitting |
| [Story Estimation](references/story-estimation.md) | Story Estimation |

## Best Practices

### ✅ DO

- Write from the user's perspective
- Focus on value, not implementation
- Create stories small enough for one sprint
- Define clear acceptance criteria
- Use consistent format and terminology
- Have product owner approve stories
- Include edge cases and error scenarios
- Link to requirements/business goals
- Update stories based on learning
- Create testable stories

### ❌ DON'T

- Write technical task-focused stories
- Create overly detailed specifications
- Write stories that require multiple sprints
- Forget about non-functional requirements
- Skip acceptance criteria
- Create dependent stories unnecessarily
- Write ambiguous acceptance criteria
- Ignore edge cases
- Create too large stories
- Change stories mid-sprint without discussion


---
Source attribution: aj-geddes
Original project: https://github.com/aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts/blob/3f5182cfd739fc113f4af5244a1cf342ad7f7911/skills/user-story-writing/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 AJ Geddes

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.


# Dave AI resource metadata

Creator / publisher: aj-geddes
Original project: https://github.com/aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts/blob/3f5182cfd739fc113f4af5244a1cf342ad7f7911/skills/user-story-writing/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Design, Operations, Product Management, Project & Program Management
Roles: Business Process Analyst, Product Manager, Project Manager, Scrum Master, UX Designer
Specialties: Cross Platform
Tools: Tool not specified
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: 988fc9741fd9ed28b2c48cca27056feb9a79826452fee4db86656aad15422393