Getting Started - Creating a User Story Map for Jira

[Teagan]

Congratulations! You have installed Easy Agile User Story Maps for Jira. 

So, where to from here? How do we create and manage User Story Maps? 

Here's what we'll cover in this article:

• How do I view my Scrum and Kanban boards as Story Maps in Jira?
• What if I have no epics in my backlog?
• Creating epics 
• Creating User Stories 
• Ordering Stories 
• Sequencing Issues 

How do I view my Scrum and Kanban boards as Story Maps in Jira? 

Once installed, each Scrum and Kanban board in Jira can be viewed as a Story Map. To access the Story Map, click the 'User Story Map' button above the backlog icon on your Agile board. 

Please not: Jira 6.4 and 6.3 include the ability to turn Project Navigation on or off. Jira instances with Project Navigation tunred off can access the Story Map by: 

What if there are no epics in my backlog? 

When there are no epics in the backlog a welcome screen will be displayes with a video included, providing users with an overview of the concepts of story mapping in Jira. 

You can check out the video here

Creating Epics (Creating the Backbone)

Across the top of the board you will create a horizontal row of epics. Each epic represents an activity of the users flow through the product, This is often referred to as the 'backbone' of the Story Map. 

For Example: a fictitious job applicant tracking system may have several activities from Requisition through to Onboarding - there will be an epic for each of the activities right through

These epics can be dragged and dropped and the order of the epics will be reflected on the backlog using Jira ranking. 

Creating User Stories (Flesh on the Backbone) 

From the backbone of epics we add User Stories to support each activity. These are ordered by rank below each topic. For example: 

To create a new story associated with an epic, click the '+ Create Story' button under each epic. This will bring up the condensed create issue dialogue which automatically adds the association. 

Ordering Stories

The stories within each epic can be reordered. This allows the team to order the stories in terms of importance or value to the user. 

To reorder a story within an epic simply drag and drop it into place. You will see a grey drop zone to guide the placement. 

Sequencing Issues

A key aspect to story mapping sessions is sequencing work into upcoming sprints or versions, for example: 

By switching the view to 'by Sprints' or 'by Versions' you can drag and drop issues between sprints or versions. 

Versions are ordered by their Release Date. 

Quick Tip: some teams pick an arbituary date, like the first of the month to show their intent to release a new version in a given month. 

As you drag and drop issues betwen sprints or versions, the estimate statistics will be immediately updated, helping teams effectively plan upcoming sprints. 

Below you can see 'To Do' work (Blue), 'In Progress' work (Yellow) and 'Done' work (Green). 

[sri sura]

Hi I cannot see the stories I created during planning session for some reason using the Easy Agile User Story Map. 

The issues are being created but are not being displayed under the respective epic in the User Story Map. 

Any ideas if I am missing something? 

[Teagan]

Hi @sri sura, 

Thanks for reaching out.

There may be a few things happening here. To help us get to the root of the issue can you please follow these troubleshooting steps:

1. Can you please ensure there are no Quick Filters applied to the story map. You can check this under the "Quick Filters" menu at the top of your story map, located next to the "Create Epic" button.

2. Can you please check that you do not have any status filters on. You can do so by ensuring all 3 categories (To Do, In Progress and Done) are selected under the ellipsis (...) dropdown menu.

3. Please ensure that the status of the created issues is mapped to one of the 3 default Jira Status Categories (To Do, In Progress or Done). If they are not, we cannot detect them in our API.

4. Please ensure the missing issues are not part of a released version, or a completed Sprint. We only show done issues that are not in a released Version or a completed Sprint. We made this choice due to a possible performance impact where teams have years of old issues. For instance, one customer had thousands of old issues which caused the story map to load slowly, and they weren't looking at these issues regardless. 

If none of these are the root cause of the issue you're facing, it may be a deeper configuration issue. If that is the case, could you please gather and send your troubleshooting information to support@easyagile.com so that we can help you get this solved. 

Thanks Sri,
Teagan Harbridge [Easy Agile] 

[Lubna Dabash]

hello 

i cant find story map option in my project any clue why?

[Tenille @ Easy Agile]

Hi Lubna,

You would have seen from the article above that the User Story Map icon should be found in the project sidebar. It is possible for the icon to be hidden, so it might be worth checking with your Jira admin to see if that's the case.

If that doesn't help, then please reach out to us at support@easyagile.com and we can troubleshoot further.

Cheers

Tenille
Easy Agile

[Corina Dumitrescu]

Hi, the video you posted above is private.

[Tenille @ Easy Agile]

Hi @Corina Dumitrescu,

Thanks for flagging that you're unable to watch the video linked above. This post is from 2017, so some of the details are a little out of date. Easy Agile User Story Maps was updated to Easy Agile TeamRhythm in 2022.

Here's a new video demonstrating how to create a User Story Map in TeamRhythm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOI6SMVRYhw&list=PLh5IG99iFMzdtMbjjck3ziLuM_wuWY8DW&index=3

I'd be happy to help if you have any questions.

Cheers

Tenille

Easy Agile