“As a user, I want…” Is Where Your Story Went Wrong.
Most backlogs are full of stories nobody can build from. Not because the writer was careless — because nobody ever showed them what a good one looks like.
Stop Writing Requirements. Start Describing Needs.
A user story isn’t a requirement with a costume on. It’s a placeholder for a conversation about somebody’s problem — and the moment you write it as a solution, you’ve thrown away the part that mattered.
This workshop is under two hours and it is entirely practical: what a story is for, who it’s about, and fourteen specific tips for writing ones your team can actually build.
- Wants versus needs — and why building the want is how projects fail
- What a user story is actually for, and what it replaces
- Knowing the user: personas, journey mapping, and empathy mapping
- Fourteen tips, each one a specific fix for a specific failure
- Acceptance criteria that describe behaviour instead of leaking design
By the end you’ll be able to look at your own backlog and see exactly which stories are going to cause trouble.
Start whenever you like
Self-paced: 2 modules, $79.
What you'll learn
- Wants versus needs, and why the difference decides what gets built
- How unclear requirements show up later as the reasons projects fail
- What a user story is, and what the three attributes are that you always capture
- Personas, journey mapping, and empathy mapping — knowing who you’re writing for
- Why “As a user…” is the first thing to stop doing
- Starting big and slicing down, rather than discarding
- Acceptance criteria: high level, behaviour-focused, free of technical detail
- The phrasings that handle current state, expiration, and performance needs
Who this is for
- Product Owners whose stories keep coming back with questions
- Business analysts moving from requirements documents to backlogs
- Developers and testers tired of building from stories nobody can interpret
- Anyone who writes or grooms a backlog and suspects it could be better
What you get
- Two recorded parts — nearly two hours of instruction
- The Student Handbook, with the exercises and the User Story Bundle appendix
- A graded checkpoint drawn from a fifty-question bank
- A certificate of completion
- One year of access from the day you enrol
The fine print
What’s covered
Two parts, taken in order, on your clock. The handbook follows along and carries the exercises:
Part One
Focus: What a story is and who it’s about
- Wants versus needs, and why projects fail on the difference
- What a user story actually is, and the three attributes to always capture
- Personas, journey mapping, and empathy mapping
- Thinking like a user rather than about one
Part Two
Focus: Fourteen tips, and acceptance criteria that hold
- Avoiding “As a user…”, keeping it short, and never going alone
- Starting big, prioritizing rather than discarding, and what else rides with the story
- When acceptance isn’t enough — criteria at the right level, out of the technical weeds
- Behaviour not functionality, and the phrasings for current state, expiration, and performance
- Graded checkpoint: the user stories quiz
Modules unlock in order — finish part one to open part two.
Part two is gated on a graded quiz. You can retake it as many times as you need.
Training formats
Self-paced video, taken whenever you like. There are no scheduled sessions and nothing to attend.
Two parts totalling nearly two hours, plus the Student Handbook as a download.
Buying for a team? Set the licence count at checkout and assign each one to a person afterwards.
Risk-free guarantee
Self-paced training is non-refundable — you get the whole course the moment you enrol, so there’s nothing to return.
In exchange you keep one year of access from the day you enrol, and you can work through it as many times as you like in that year.
If the course isn’t what you expected, email jim@artisanagility.com and we’ll sort it out.
Prerequisites
None to speak of. Some familiarity with a backlog helps, but the workshop starts from what a story is for.
If Agile itself is new, Basic Agile & Scrum Fundamentals is the better starting point.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a certification class?
No. It earns a certificate of completion from Artisan Agility, not a Scrum Alliance credential.
If you want the CSPO designation, take the live Certified Scrum Product Owner class. This workshop goes deeper on story writing than any certification class has time for.
How long does it take?
Nearly two hours of video across two parts, plus the handbook exercises. An afternoon, if you want it to be.
Why “1”?
Because this is the foundation — what a story is, who it’s for, and how to write one. There’s more to say about splitting, sizing, and backlog structure, and that’s a second workshop rather than a longer first one.
Can I buy this for my team?
Yes. Choose the number of licences at checkout, and you’ll assign each one to a person afterwards. Each person gets their own progress, handbook, and certificate.
What’s your refund policy?
Self-paced training is non-refundable — the full course is delivered the moment you enrol. The one-year access window is the trade.
Live classes are different: full refund 10+ days out, credit within 10 days. See the live class pages for those terms.