User Stories are the most specific elements of the product list and contain the user's view of the expected functionality of the product. User Stories should not be confused with requirements, they reference what the user wants or expects from the finished product.
Components of a User Story
These are the components that a good User Story should have, so that it is easy to understand by the team, generates value and simplifies the development process:
- Title. It allows to know quickly what the story is about and therefore it must be concrete and clear.
- Description. It may include technical components, specify the type of design, the place where the tasks are to be stored or the architectural flow to be followed. In short, it provides a more specific definition to complete the story.
For the description it is useful to use a template such as the following:
How <role> do I want <action> for what <benefit>?
- Points. The points in a User Story represent the effort it will take the development team to complete the activities in the story.
- Acceptance Criteria. Through it, the requirements that the story must meet for it to be complete are defined.

👆🏻 Source: Samuel Miranda Martínez
How to define that a User Story is completed
The definition of "completed" in a User Story must include the list of required elements. Here is an example:
✅ Functionality (that the acceptance criteria are met).
✅ Code or version management system (code updated in git).
✅ Tests created (unit, functional, performance).
✅ Documentation (through manuals or tutorials).
Before starting the sprint planning, time should be invested in planning the User Stories. There is a technique called the three Cs:
- Cards. These are the cards created with the components or information of each story.
- Conversation. It is the team's conversation about the story, to ensure that there are no doubts in the development process.
- Confirmation. All the people working on the story reach an agreement and confirm that they understand its content.
What a good User Story should look like
I - Independent. It should not depend on another User Story. If it is, it should be marked early and work should not begin until its dependency is complete.
N - Negotiable. If the team finds that the story is too large to complete during the sprint, it can be negotiated with the Product Owner to break it into smaller stories.
V - Valuable. Must deliver value to the customer, must do something for the functionality or product.
E - Estimable. It must be possible to estimate the effort to complete the story.
S - Small. It must be small enough to fulfill a functionality.
T - Testable. It should be verified that the story was completed through the acceptance criteria and the definition of completed.
Contribution created with contributions from: Cristian Palacios Beltran, Alex Camacho and Samuel Miranda Martinez.
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