When reading Jeff Patton’s User Story Mapping, I was constantly amused by the examples of miscommunication stories. However, I am still not sure whether the story mapping approach is applicable in a class setting. The examples Jeff described where user stories were used correctly needed a long time and deep engagement. Is that possible in a class project, where the pace of design process is really, really fast, and everyone involved is super busy and wants to get out of the meeting asap? By everyone, I mean both the product team and the users who agree to be interviewed. It is so difficult to have everyone sit down and think of detailed stories. The time and patience needed for stories scare me away.
In the modern world, we are so lured to numbers and figures which we can take 2 seconds and get the message from. We pick the design with better usage data. But stories are different. They need so much context and require communication. I feel tired just by reading the story mapping process. It is so difficult to communicate with others.
I think I will be interested in using this approach if making one good product is the only thing I need to do. The mental energy required for story mapping is too much for a class project that needs an MVP in 10 weeks when every week a milestone needs to be done. I also believe it is too much for the interviewee if we are interviewing Stanford students.
