User stories
A user story is a useful method to help you focus your content on what a user wants to achieve when they come to your site or web page. Thinking about the content in this way can also help you with the tone of your writing and creating page titles and summary paragraphs.
It is recommended that for every new piece of content you create, there should be an associated user story. If you are not able to produce a user story for the content, then it poses the question – does this piece of content serve any purpose for users? If the answer is no, you may not need it on your website.
User stories focus on a single, achievable need for a particular user, and why they have that need i.e. what are they getting out of it? User stories do not propose solutions.
How to write a user story
A user story consists of three parts:
- As a… [the type of user/role e.g. prospective student]
- I need/want… [what they want to do or find out i.e. their goal]
- So that… [why they want to do this? how will it benefit them?]
Defining users/roles
The user/role types you define will be dependent on your site. Some types may be very general like staff and some may be more specific e.g. prospective students. You will need to think about who your site is intended for and whether those audiences have different needs. Here are some example user types to help you get started:
- prospective students
- current students
- students
- tutor
- administrative staff
- staff
- alumnus
- parent
Needs/wants
The second part is the most important, as it is the thing that we can measure the final or proposed content against to see if the user can achieve that goal.
Some user story examples
Example 1
As a prospective student
I want to find Aeronautical Engineering courses
So that I can decide if the course is right for me
Example 2
As a member of staff
I need to find out what the process if for season ticket loans
So that I can apply for a season ticket loan
Example 3
As an alumnus
I want to see a list of upcoming events
So that I can register for an event I want to attend
When there is more than one user need
Although a page should ideally be focussed on one subject and one user need, there will inevitably be pages which address multiple user needs. By identifying all these user needs it will help you with structuring your content. For example, each user need may be a section of the page with a different heading.
Job stories
Job stories are similar to user stories, but they assume there is only one user type or all users have the same needs. Job stories are scenario-based rather than need-based.
How to write a job story
A job story consists of three parts:
- When… [there’s a particular situation]
- I need/want… [what they want to do or find out i.e. their goal]
- So that… [why they want to do this? how will it benefit them? ]
Some job story examples
Example 1
When the printer in my office stops working
I need to find out who to contact
So that I can get it fixed
Example 2
When I want to book a meeting room
I want to see all the rooms that are available at a given date and time
So that I can book the best room available
Shall I write user stories or job stories?
This all depends on your users, do they all have different needs? If you find yourself writing user stories for each user type and the needs and motivations are similar, then a job story is probably better. If you have multiple users all with different needs, requiring different content then user stories are the best option.
Acceptance criteria
As you are going through your project, it is sometimes good practice to go back to your user or job stories and check if the content is addressing them. To do this you can write some acceptance criteria. This could be evaluated by doing some user testing with a representative user. For example:
The following user story:
As a member of staff
I need to find out what the process if for season ticket loans
So that I can apply for a season ticket loan
would have this acceptance criterion:
This story is done when they have applied for a season ticket loan
Further reading