How to Create a Story Map in Jira

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Agile development is all about delivering value quickly and iteratively, and a story map is one of the best tools to help you achieve that. It provides a visual way to organize your product backlog, ensuring that your team understands the big picture while focusing on the details that matter for the next sprint. In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of creating a story map in Jira, using Planyway for Jira to simplify and enhance your workflow.

What is a story map and why use it?

A story map is a strategic visual tool that breaks down your product or feature development into tasks (stories) aligned with your customer’s journey. It organizes user stories into activities (epics) across a timeline or workflow, allowing your team to see what needs to be done, when, and why.

Benefits of story mapping

• Enhanced prioritization of features and tasks.

• Better collaboration among teams.

• A clear connection between business goals and development tasks.

How to create a story map in Jira

Step 1. Set up your Jira project

Before diving into story mapping, ensure your Jira project is ready:

1. Define Epics. Break your product or feature into high-level themes or activities. These are your epics.

2. Create Stories. Add individual user stories under each epic, detailing the steps or tasks needed to achieve them.

3. Prioritize the Backlog. Organize your backlog items in a general priority order to provide clarity for mapping.

Step 2. Visualize your story map

While Jira provides excellent tools for backlog management, Planyway enhances your experience with intuitive drag-and-drop story mapping on a timeline.

Here’s how to create a story map using Planyway:

1. Install Planyway for Jira

2. Open the timeline view

3. Group stories by epics:

   • Drag and drop user stories into rows under their respective epics. This creates a hierarchy that’s easy to navigate. If you have other scheduled issues, use filters to see only user stories.

4. Prioritize stories horizontally:

   • Arrange stories from left to right within each epic to reflect the priority or sequence in which they’ll be tackled.

5. Add releases:

   • Divide your timeline into release buckets to track when stories will be delivered.

6. Collaborate with your team:

   • Review the story map with your team, adjust priorities, and confirm sprint goals.

Step 3. Prioritize and plan

With your story map in place, it’s time to plan your next steps:

1. Finalize sprint scope: select the highest-priority stories from your map for the upcoming sprint.

2. Review dependencies: identify and address any blockers or dependencies that could impact progress.

3. Align with stakeholders: share the story map with stakeholders to ensure alignment on priorities and goals.

Let us know in the comments: How do you use story maps in your Jira workflows? Share your tips, tricks, and best practices below!