user-story-mapping

# User Story Mapping

User Story Mapping is Jeff Patton's technique for organizing user stories into a visual map that shows the complete user experience and helps slice work into releases.

## When to Use This Skill

**Keywords:** story map, user story map, backbone, walking skeleton, MVP, release planning, user journey, story slicing, Jeff Patton, Agile discovery

**Use this skill when:**

- Organizing elicited requirements into deliverable increments
- Defining MVP scope from a large set of requirements
- Visualizing the user journey across features
- Planning releases with clear user value
- Slicing large epics into shippable stories
- Communicating product vision to stakeholders

## Core Concepts

### The Map Structure

```text
TIME / USER JOURNEY →
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
BACKBONE (Activities)   │  Search   │  Browse   │  Purchase  │  Track
                        │           │           │            │
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
WALKING SKELETON        │  Basic    │  List     │  Cart +    │  Order
(Minimum Path)          │  Search   │  View     │  Checkout  │  Status
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Release 1               │  Filters  │  Details  │  Payment   │  Email
                        │           │  Page     │  Options   │  Notify
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Release 2               │  Saved    │  Compare  │  Wishlist  │  Tracking
                        │  Searches │  Items    │            │  Map
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Release 3 (Nice-to-have)│  AI       │  AR       │  One-Click │  Delivery
                        │  Suggest  │  Preview  │  Buy       │  Photos
```

### Key Elements

| Element | Description |
| ------- | ----------- |
| **Backbone** | High-level user activities in sequence (left-to-right = time) |
| **Walking Skeleton** | Minimum functionality fo