ProductGo Basics #2: How to use User Story Map

ProductGo Basics #2_ How to use user story map

Building great products requires the right tools, clear vision, and efficient team collaboration. ProductGo brings these elements together by enhancing Jira with powerful visual planning tools. As a dedicated Jira app, ProductGo helps teams create better products through user story maps, roadmaps, and portfolio management.

In this guide, we’ll focus on one of ProductGo’s core features: User Story Map. Whether you’re new to story mapping or looking to enhance your current process, this guide will show you how ProductGo can transform your product planning.

What is ProductGo’s User Story Map?

User Story Map is your visual command center for product planning. It transforms complex product backlogs into clear, organized maps that show how your users actually experience your product. 

Whether you’re planning new features or improving existing ones, our story map helps your team stay focused on what matters most – delivering value to your users.

Core Features

ProductGo simplifies organizing user stories to reflect real user journeys, with logical grouping and easy visibility of dependencies. Customizable views ensure the system fits your team’s specific needs.

Seamlessly integrated with Jira, ProductGo syncs automatically with your Jira issues, using familiar workflows and fields, so you can manage everything without switching tools.

Flexible planning tools let you set high-level product goals, break them into manageable epics, and organize stories in meaningful ways. Swimlane views allow you to structure work by release, sprint, or freely as needed.

Collaboration is enhanced with real-time updates, easy sharing, comment tools, and version tracking, keeping everyone aligned and informed.

How It Works

ProductGo’s User Story Map organizes information across three levels. Goals/Themes represent the product’s main objectives and provide strategic direction. Epics/Steps break down goals into feature groups and development phases. User Stories capture specific user needs and plan sprint-level tasks.

Practical Applications

For product managers, ProductGo improves release planning, prioritizes features by user value, and tracks progress effectively. Development teams gain better context, see dependencies clearly, and estimate work more accurately. Stakeholders get clear overviews, track priorities, and provide meaningful feedback.

Why User Story Mapping Matters

User story mapping transforms how teams build products by creating a visual, shared understanding of the user journey. Here’s why it’s essential for modern product teams:

Clearer Product Vision

Story mapping replaces confusing feature lists with a clear visual landscape of your product. Teams can instantly spot gaps and opportunities, making it easier to decide what to build next and why it matters.

Better Team Collaboration

Story maps create a common language that bridges the gap between designers, developers, and product managers. This shared reference point makes planning more efficient and ensures everyone understands their part in the bigger picture.

Smarter Decision Making

Teams can quickly identify high-value features and create realistic release plans by seeing how everything connects. This clarity helps you allocate resources more effectively and deliver the right features at the right time.

Enhanced User Focus

Story mapping keeps your team focused on building a coherent user experience rather than disconnected features. This user-centric approach helps teams deliver value faster and respond more effectively to user feedback.

Creating Your First Story Map with ProductGo

Step 1: Access Your Story Map

Step1-Access-to-StoryMap (1)

There are two ways to access ProductGo’s Story Map from Jira:

  1. Go to AppsProductGo Projects or Agile Boards
  2. Go to your project or board → ProductGo on the side menu

Step 2: Set Up Your Goals/Themes

Goals are your high-level objectives – the big picture of what you want to achieve.

How to create goals:

  1. Look for the Goals section at the top of your map
  2. Click to create a new card
  3. Add your goal details
  4. Organize goals based on priority or timeline

Step2-Create-Goals (1)

Pro tip: Keep your goals clear and focused. Each goal should represent a distinct area of value for your users.

Step 3: Define Steps/Epics

Epics break down your goals into manageable chunks of work.

Creating effective epics:

  1. Add cards in the Steps section
  2. Align each epic with its parent goal
  3. Make sure epics are specific but not too detailed
  4. Order epics based on user journey flow

Step3-Create-Steps (1)

Pro tip: Think about your epics as major milestones in your user’s journey with your product.

Step 4: Add User Stories

User stories are the detailed tasks that make up your epics.

Building your story library:

  1. Create cards in the Stories section
  2. Link each story to its parent epic
  3. Add acceptance criteria and details
  4. Arrange stories by priority

Step4-Create-User-Stories (1)

Pro tip: Write stories from the user’s perspective – what they want to do and why it matters.

Step 5: Organize with Swimlanes

ProductGo offers three flexible swimlane modes:

Release Mode

  • Perfect for Kanban teams
  • Organize stories by release
  • Track progress across releases

Sprint Mode

  • Ideal for Scrum teams
  • Plan and track sprint work
  • Monitor velocity and capacity

No Swimlanes

  • Great for high-level planning
  • Focus on the big picture
  • Perfect for stakeholder presentations

Step5-Add-to-Swimlane (1)

Making the Most of Your Story Map

Best Practices

  1. Start with user goals, not features
  2. Keep your hierarchy clear and logical
  3. Review and update regularly
  4. Use color coding for better visibility
  5. Include acceptance criteria in stories

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

  • Don’t make your epics too large
  • Avoid too much detail in high-level goals
  • Don’t forget to link related stories
  • Keep your map up to date

Need Help?

We’re here to make sure you succeed with ProductGo:

Ready to make product management easier? Try ProductGo free for 30 days and see the difference it can make for your team.

Remember, a great story map evolves with your product. Start simple, iterate often, and let ProductGo help you build better products, one story at a time.

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Final Words

Story mapping is more than just organizing tasks – it’s about building products that truly matter to your users. ProductGo’s User Story Map makes this process intuitive and effective, helping teams deliver better products faster.

Whether you’re planning your next big release or improving existing features, ProductGo’s User Story Map gives you the tools you need to succeed. Start your story mapping journey today and see how it can transform your product development process.

Remember, great products start with great planning. Let ProductGo help you make that planning more effective, collaborative, and enjoyable for your entire team.

 

ProductGo Basics #1: Discover All Features of ProductGo
ProductGo Basics #3: How to use Roadmap

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