Simply put a user story is a simple scenario of how users will interact with your system. The best way of generating user stories is to ask a user to create them. Why would they want to visit your site? What would they want to do when they got there? When you have that information you can generate a scenario to test your system against.

There are three sorts of scenario, goal, task and elaborate. Goal and task scenarios are the simplest containing details only of what the users wants or needs to do. Elaborate scenarios however are the detailed novels to the other’s short stories.

Elaborate scenarios drive a sites architecture, navigation and content and is the type of scenario that will give you the most details to test usability against. It gives the user a predefined reason and a goal for going to the site but it also lets them illustrate how they could use the site to accomplish that goal.

This elaborate scenario is from usability.org

Example: Mr. and Mrs. Macomb are retired schoolteachers who are now in their 70's. Their Social Security checks are an important part of their income. They've just sold their big house and moved to a small apartment. They know that one of the many chores they need to do now is to tell the Social Security Administration that they have moved. They don't know where the nearest Social Security office is and it's getting harder for them to do a lot of walking or driving, so they would like to do this on the computer if it is easy and safe enough. However, they are somewhat nervous about doing a task like this by computer. They never used computers in their jobs; but their son, Steve, gave them a computer last year, set it up for them, and showed them how to use email and how to go to Web sites. They have never been to the Social Security Administration's Web site, so they don't know how it is organized. Also, they are reluctant to give out personal information on Web sites, so they want to know how safe it is to tell the agency about their new address this way.

That scenario includes all the problems that the system might be expected to help them with:

1. They need to inform Social Security that they’ moved
2. They need to locate the local Social Security office
3. Will the system be safe and easy enough for them to use
4. They need to reassured on security and ease of use
5. They have some knowledge of web and email and basic computer skills

Notice that the problems highlighted are not automatically functional ones, they're about how the user needs to access the system and why, so the scenarios generated might be:

Scenario 1

1. User navigates to find Local Office
2. Types Postal Code and gets Address
3. Prints
   

Scenario 2

1. User navigates to find Local Office
2. Types Postal Code and gets address
3. Accesses link to enter personal details
4. Reads FAQ for assurance
5. Fills out relevant form
   

Scenario 3

1. User visits site visits FAQ
2. Finds details of security
3. Accesses locate local office information

Etc, etc.

From that one story a whole host of testable scenarios and ‘what ifs’ arise, helping to drive your site’s usability.

© Bob Powell