Who Should Write User Stories?

From Chaos to Collaboration - A Matter of Product Team Maturity

One of the many responsibilities of product owners, as outlined in the Scrum Guide, is to "create and clearly communicate Product Backlog items." Traditionally, this has meant that only the Product Owner writes user stories. But is this a hard and fast rule?

Let's explore the stages of product team maturity with regard to writing user stories:

Stage 1: Chaos

In this initial stage, things may feel disorganized. The Product Owner typically takes charge of writing user stories.

Stage 2: Strict Process Following

As the team progresses, a more rigid structure emerges. Only the Product Owner drafts user stories, with team members pointing out missing elements.

Stage 3: Ownership

As the team matures, it adopts a collaborative approach. If there's a shared understanding after a discussion, anyone in the team can contribute to crafting user stories.

In a mature Stage 3 team, it's not uncommon for user stories to appear in a sprint that the Product Owner hasn't seen before. This is a positive development, indicating that team members take ownership of the product. Tasks may emerge during the sprint, reflecting the team's ability to adapt to new information or split stories themselves, e.g. when experiments have been run during a sprint.

This shift in responsibility is beneficial. It allows the Product Owner to concentrate on strategy, experimentation and discovery, contributing to the overall success of the product. It shows that the while team cares about the product and understand the product goal.

In conclusion, the evolution from strict process adherence to collaborative ownership marks a team's growth. Encouraging every team member to contribute to user story creation fosters a sense of shared responsibility, ultimately benefiting the product's trajectory. As software product managers and engineers, let's embrace this shift and leverage the collective expertise within our teams for continued success.

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What I read

This is a separate section of this newsletter. I will list some of the best articles I have read on the Internet. They may or may not be related to the topic of this article. I will keep a list of the best articles (currently >700) at https://www.digital-product-management.com.

These are today’s picks:

Peak Product Manager Skill Set: A Product Competency Toolkit, a system of 12 product manager skills.

Circle of Control: A framework for dealing with stressful situations, and building resilience.

Ask for Advice, Not Permission: The problem with permission is that you are asking someone else to take responsibility for your decision.