Manage Stories

The Stories tab in the Plan view is where you define and organize the activities and user stories that shape your application. You can use Composer to generate and refine your story map using natural language, or do it yourself. The story map displays activities as columns and user stories as cards within each column.

Each activity represents a functional area of your application—such as "Order Processing" or "Customer Management"—and the user stories beneath it represent the specific things users or the system do within that area. Together, activities and user stories form a visual story map that communicates your application's scope and structure at a glance.

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In the Stories tab, you can:

• Manage stories with Composer
• Manage activities manually: Rearrange, add, edit, or delete activities.
• Manage user stories manually: View and edit story details, add your own stories, or delete stories.
• Export your story map: Export the story map to a comma-separated value (CSV) file to share with stakeholders or import it into external tools.

Manage stories with Composer

When you generate an application plan, Composer automatically generates an initial set of user stories based on your requirements.

The story map is the foundation of your application plan. Describe what you want to add, change, or reorganize and Composer updates the map for you.

With Composer, you can:

• Add activities: Create high-level groupings that organize related user stories. For example: Add an activity called "User Onboarding".
• Add user stories: Define specific tasks within an activity. For example: Add a user story to the User Onboarding activity for sending a confirmation email.
• Edit activities or user stories: Update names, descriptions, personas, or other details. For example: Update the description of the Submit Claim user story.
• Reorder and reorganize: Reorder activity columns, move user stories up or down within an activity, or reassign them to a different activity. For example: Move the Send confirmation email user story to the top of User Onboarding or Reorder activities so Reporting comes after Order Management.
• Delete activities or user stories: Remove items that are no longer needed. For example: Delete the Notify Customer user story.
• Consolidate stories: Merge duplicate or overlapping user stories. For example: Merge the two notification user stories into one.
• Organize the story map: Restructure activities and user stories to better reflect your application's scope. For example: Reorganize the story map to group all reporting user stories together.

To manage stories with Composer:

1. Navigate to the Stories tab.

2. In the Composer chat panel, describe what you want to add or change.

   Tip:  If the chat panel is not displayed, click Composer to open it.

3. Click .
4. Review the updates on the story map.

Unsupported actions

Composer is scoped to adding, editing, and reorganizing activities and user stories. The following actions are not supported:

• Bulk import: Activities and user stories must be provided conversationally. Importing items from an external file such as a CSV or Word document is not supported.
• Automatic prioritization: Composer reorders items when given a specific instruction, but does not independently rank or prioritize stories based on business value or complexity.
• Version history: Composer does not track changes to your story map or support rolling back to a previous state.
• Status updates: To mark a user story as In Progress, Done, or Blocked, use the manual edit steps.
• Cross-tab conflict detection: Composer does not automatically flag contradictions between your stories and your business rules or data model. To check for conflicts, ask Composer directly.

Organize your story map

A well-organized story map makes it easier for your team to understand the overall structure and flow of the application.

Keep the following principles in mind as you add and arrange activities and user stories:

• Order activities by user journey. Activities are arranged horizontally, left to right. Rearrange the activities so the columns tell the chronological story of how a user moves through your application.
• Prioritize user stories vertically. User stories are stacked top to bottom under each activity. Drag and drop user stories to place essential stories at the top and more sophisticated ones lower.
• Use clear, descriptive names. Each activity and user story name must convey its purpose at a glance. Avoid generic names like Process. Instead, use specific labels like Customer Onboarding or Claim Submission.
• Break down complex activities. If an activity becomes too large, split it into smaller activities. Smaller groupings keep the story map readable and make each area of functionality clearer.

Manage activities manually

By default, Composer uses the information you provided for your application plan to generate a set of activities and their order. You can organize and update the activities to ensure your application's high-level requirements are accurate and well-ordered.

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Rearrange activities

To rearrange the activity columns:

1. On the Stories tab, click > Rearrange Activities.
2. In the Rearrange Activities display, click and hold an activity.
3. Drag and drop the activity into the desired order. The order reflects the left to right order on the story map.
4. Click SAVE.

Add an activity manually

To manually add a new activity:

1. On the Stories tab, click + ADD ACTIVITY. The Add Activity dialog appears.

2. For Name, enter a clear and concise title for your activity.

   Tip:  The name should be specific enough to convey the activity's purpose at a glance. Avoid overly general names and ensure it reflects the main function of the activity within your application. For example, instead of "Process," use something like "Customer Onboarding" or "Claim Submission."
   

3. (Optional) For Goal, enter a description of the activity's purpose or objective.
4. Click ADD.

Edit an activity manually

To edit an activity:

1. On the Stories tab, hover over the activity card and click Edit activity . The Edit Activity dialog appears.
2. Update the Name or Goal.
3. Click SAVE.

Delete an activity manually

To delete an activity and all its associated user stories:

1. On the Stories tab, hover over the activity card and click Delete activity .
2. Click DELETE

Manage user stories manually

Composer generates user stories to accompany the activities it identifies for your application plan. Each user story captures a specific action a user or the system does within an activity. You can add, edit, and delete user stories to keep your plan accurate.

Well-scoped user stories give Composer clear context to work from. When you click START BUILDING, the user stories you define in the Stories tab appear on the Board tab in the Build view, where Composer can help you build them.

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View user story details

To review the current configuration of a user story:

1. On the Stories tab, click a user story.
2. Review the following details for the user story:
   • Description: A detailed explanation of the user story.
   • Acceptance Criteria: The conditions that must be met for the story to be considered complete.
   • Status: The current state of the user story.
   • Type: The specific action type assigned to the user story.
   • Persona: The user responsible for the user story.
3. Click Stories to return to the full story board.

Manually add a user story

When Composer generates your application plan, it automatically creates user stories based on the requirements you provide. You can add more user stories manually to capture work that Composer didn't include.

To manually add a user story:

1. On the Stories tab, hover over an activity and click Add story . The Add Story dialog appears.
2. For Status, select a value to indicate the current progress of the user story:
   • Not started
   • In progress
   • In review
   • Done
3. For Name, enter a clear and concise title for the user story.
4. (Optional) For Description, enter a detailed explanation of the user story.
5. (Optional) For Type, select the action type.
6. (Optional) For Persona, select the persona responsible for the user story.
7. Click ADD.

Edit a user story

To edit the details of a user story:

1. On the Stories tab, hover over the user story and click the Edit story . The user story details display.
2. Modify the user story details as needed.
3. Click SAVE CHANGES.
4. Click Stories to return to the full story board.

Delete a user story

To permanently delete a user story and its associated data:

1. On the Stories tab, hover over the user story you want to delete.
2. Click Delete story .
3. Click DELETE.

Export story map to a CSV file

You can export your story map to a comma-separated value (CSV) file to share your application's story map with stakeholders, or import it into external tools such as Jira or Azure DevOps. Exporting the story map helps ensure your requirements remain consistent as you move from architecting a solution in Composer to project execution.

To export your requirements as a CSV:

1. On the Stories tab, click > Export to CSV.
2. Save the generated StoryMapExport file to your local machine.

The CSV maintains the hierarchy of your story map: activities map to parent items (typically epics), and user stories map to child items (typically stories or tasks). The exported file contains all the fields nested within their parent activities.

The following table describes what each CSV field indicates:

CSV Field Name	Composer	Jira Field	Description
issue type	Activity / User story	Issue Type	Indicates the hierarchy level. Epic for activities and Story for user stories.
issue id	N/A	Issue ID	A unique sequence number for each activity. Map this to the Issue ID column when importing into Jira.
issue key	N/A	Issue Key	A placeholder for Jira's internal ID. This can remain unmapped during initial import.
summary	Name	Summary	The title of the activity or user story.
parent	N/A	Parent/Parent ID	The issue id of the activity associated with a user story.
description	Description	Description	The detailed objectives or requirements defined for the user story.
status	Status	Status	The current progress of the user story, such as Not Started, In Progress, or Done.

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