CSCI 499 Practice Story
Practice Story Examples
These three sites stood out (others were good, too):
Purpose
In this unit we will also start to learn about the LeanUX
agile UI process and how to use stories to support that process.
Preparation
Read:
- Skim LeanUX chapters 1 and 2.
- User's Journey Intro and chapters 1-3
- User's Journey chapter 5
- User's Journey pages 102-103
Chapter questions
- LeanUX chapter question. Compare the principles listed to
what you already know about agile. Many of these should be similar. Can you
identify a couple principles that either sound new OR are stated in a way
that shifts the focus somewhat?
- User's Journey question. In a sentence or two, what's
the main point of the Intro/Chapter 1?
Practice Story
Storymapping can be a very effective technique, but it requires a
different skill set/thought process than writing code. Before trying
to write stories for the new product you are designing, it will help to
reverse engineer a story for an existing product.
Think about a product you like. Or maybe talk to a friend (casually) about a product
they like (e.g., just something like "I see you keep using X, what do you like about
it?"). If compelling, try your friend's product.
Write a story for either the product you like OR the product your
friend likes. You should write both a concept story (described in chapter 3)
and a usage story (chapter 5). If you feel you need
more practice, feel free to include a couple usage stories.
A concept story must include:
- Exposition: Identify the target audience and what they want (goal)
- Inciting Incident/Problem: What's keeping the user(s) from meeting
their goal?
- Rising Action: How your product addresses that problem.
Include your product name.
- Crisis: The competition. How do users currently solve the problem?
OR, what factors might prevent users from adopting your product?
What are all the negatives potential customers might imagine?
- Climax/Resolution: The value provided by your product (how
it addresses the problem and overcomes the crisis).
- Falling Action: (less well-defined, imo) In general,
it seems like potential users might adopt, might need more convincing,
or might remain skeptical.
- End: Must reconcile your business goals with the user’s goals.
A usage story must include:
- Exposition: Why is the customer going to use your product?
(current goal)
- Inciting Incident/Problem: What kickstarts the user for this
particular usage?
- Rising Action: What is the first action? Next action? ...
- Crisis: What might prevent the user from completing this
action/having a positive experience?
- Climax/Resolution: How will any obstacles be overcome?
How will the user recognize the value?
- Falling Action: How do you wrap up this particular
session/experience?
- End: Where is the user now? Closer to the overall goal?
Is the next step obvious?
The category descriptions are somewhat abstract/arbitrary. I found that they
made much more sense after writing a couple stories... hope you do as well!
Submit
Collect your questions and stories into a single pdf.
Evaluation
As with other assignments, your work will be evaluated based on how well
you illustrate your understanding of the material. That said, I realize this
is a brand new skill, so will be somewhat lenient on this first attempt.