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Create your story map with StoriesOnBoard AI step by step

Learn how you can create your backlog with StoriesOnBoard AI while you stay in control.

Tamás Párványik avatar
Written by Tamás Párványik
Updated yesterday

Contents:


Why use StoriesOnBoard AI

StoriesOnBoard AI offers an efficient approach to context management. The initial setup prompts you to input all necessary product details, including how your story mapping process works, specific product information, key features, and target user personas.

StoriesOnBoard AI offers a streamlined and specialized approach to story mapping and backlog management. Capturing all necessary product details during the initial setup and consistently retaining this information eliminates the need for repetitive input. It ensures that all generated content aligns with the project’s objectives.

StoriesOnBoard AI is trained explicitly in story mapping best practices, providing structured and customizable results that integrate seamlessly into the backlog without additional formatting. Furthermore, it maintains a comprehensive view of the entire backlog, including both AI-generated and user-added items, which enhances accuracy and prevents duplication. This holistic approach supports unified, real-time collaboration among team members, ensuring everyone works within the same context and format, fostering greater consistency and coordination.

How to get started with StoriesOnBoard AI

In order to stay in control, you can create a story map from scratch and build it step by step collaborating with StoriesOnBoard AI assistant. Alternatively, you can also import one of your product backlog from Jira, Azure DevOps, Trello, GitHub or via Excel and improve it with StoriesOnBoard AI by spotting gaps in the user journeys or add add new features and detail existing user stories and add depth to them.

Create a new story map

Option 1
Create the initial story map with AI based on your product description

This approach lets you enter a high-level product description of your desired solution and StoriesOnBoard AI assistant will turn your details into an initial product backlog in seconds to get start with.


Option 2
Stay in control and create your story map step by step with StoriesOnBoard AI assistant working together

This approach allows you to lead the backlog creation process into the desired directions yet work together with StoriesOnBoard AI to identify user personas, map out user journey, brainstorm backlog items and add detail to user stories.

Working with StoriesOnBoard AI on your backlog you will be supported with AI assistance as following:

  • brainstorm user personas

  • identify high-level user goals

  • break goals into user journey steps

  • brainstorm user stories

  • write the user story itself

  • identify acceptance criteria

  • collect subtask

  • write test cases

  • get advise on story splitting options

  • run INVEST analysis

  • explore your own custom AI contents

To get started and create your backlog with StoriesOnBoard AI assistant create a new story map from scratch.

💡 Tip - Learn more about: How to create a story map from scratch

Import your existing backlog into StoriesOnBoard and improve that with StoriesOnBoard AI Assistant

  1. Create a new story map

  2. Set the integration up and import your project

  3. Fill the product context form

  4. Start using the AI assistant as explained below


Now that you have your story new story map you should see the following:

Designing a Patient Management Healthcare Application

WeCareApp is a B2B SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platform for healthcare providers, offering an all-in-one Patient Management System (PMS). Designed to streamline scheduling, billing, and patient communication across clinics, private practices, and hospitals.

Map out your backlog with StoriesOnBoard AI

Step 1 - Help StoriesOnBoard AI understand your solution and fill the product context form

StoriesOnBoard AI can be used in any backlog. The only thing is required that you must make the AI assistant understand what is your solution about.

Fill the product context document by navigating to the ( i ) icon on the story map and select the "Add product description" option.

Fill the product context form and include details about your solution.

Step 2 - Brainstorm user personas with StoriesOnBoard AI

Now that StoriesOnBoard AI understands your goal and knows what you are building it can help you get started by brainstorming user personas and their details who will interact with the application.

You can design the persona template that our AI assistant will use when brainstorms potential user personas. Their details will be created based on the persona template you defined.

💡 Tip - Learn more about: How to create a persona template

Now that you create a persona template in under the "Persona" menu described in the article above, you can proceed to brainstorm user personas and their details with StoriesOnBoard AI.


Step 3 - Collect high-level user goals

StoriesOnBoard AI can collect high-level user goals for the project for selected user personas keeping their requirements in mind. Select "Collect user goals" option.


Then select the user persona you wish to collect goals in the backlog. You can also narrow your focus and add specific scope.


Select user goals you want to add to the backlog.


You can also collect additional goals for other user personas as well.

Step 4 - Break goals down into user journey steps with AI

Since StoriesOnBoard AI understand the backlog it is able to help you breaking user goals down into actual user journey steps as following.

Step 5 - Brainstorm user stories

We already defined our user goal and collected the right user journey steps. It is time to brainstorm user stories for each step in the journey. To do so simply click on "Create" user stories then select stories to be added into your product backlog.


To brainstorm additional user stories simply hover your cursor under a step in the user journey or below a user story and click on the AI assist icon.


Add details to user stories with StoriesOnBoard AI

Write the user story with AI

To write the user story open the story card and make sure you are using the "Rich Text Editor" in card description.

To command the AI assistant hit the SPACE key and select "Write user story".


The AI assistant will write the user story itself for you. Then you can provide instructions to refine the result or if you are satisfied click "Accept".

💡 Tip - Learn more about: How to configure user story AI template

Write acceptance criteria with AI

To write acceptance criteria by StoriesOnBoard AI click into the story card description and hit the SPACE key then select "Write acceptance criteria".


The AI assistant will write the acceptance criteria according to the set template. Then you will be instruct the AI assistant to refine the result or "Accept" it.

Custom AI content

StoriesOnBoard AI assistant can write you any additional details about your user story. You can create Custom AI templates to prompt the AI assistant what to do with the given user story. As such it can write custom content according to your needs.

💡 Tip - Learn more about: How to create Custom AI templates

Collect subtasks with AI

You can create your own custom AI templates to take advantage of custom content generation. In the following example we will create a custom AI template to collect subtasks for our user story.

Open the story and select "Add Custom AI Content" then choose the "Add new" option to create a new template.

Click on "Examples" then select "Collect subtasks" and "Save" the template.


Return to the user story and select again the custom AI template option. Now that we already created our "Collect subtasks" template this time choose this option and run the prompt.

The AI assistant will collect subtasks for the given user story that you can add to the cards description by the "Use it" option or select the "Collect more".


You can run the "Collect subtasks" custom AI template on any user story on the story map.


​Write test cases with AI​

If you want to write test cases with StoriesOnBoard AI you must create a Custom AI template for this purpose and define how you want to structure your test cases.

Let's create a new Custom AI Template for writing test cases with the AI assistant.


Select the AI menu on the story map to get started and choose the "Update AI templates" option.

Then select the "Custom AI templates" tab.


Click on "Add new template" to create your own custom template for your needs.


Enter the title of your template and create instructions for the AI assistant. Include what to do and how you want to get the result. You can include examples for your preferred structure as following. Then "Save" your template.

Custom AI Template for writing test cases:​

Write test cases for the given user story. Return with the title, description and the potential steps at least 3-5 steps if needed and expected result. Use the following format:

**Test Case ID:** TC_01

**Title:** Successfully invite a new user with a valid email address

**Precondition:** User is logged into the webshop and is on the invite new user page.

**Test steps:**

Enter valid email address into the invite field.

Click the "Send invitation" button.

**Expected result:** The system sends an invitation email to the provided email address, and a confirmation message is displayed to the user.

**Postcondition:** The user receives an invitation email and can accept the invite to join the webshop and purchase items.

***


Go back to the story map and open a user story card where you want to run the new Write Test Cases Custom AI Template. Click on the "Custom AI Content" button and select "Write Test Cases".


The AI assistant will write test cases for you based on the established Custom AI Template. Accept the result or ask for more and add the content to your user story.


Your test cases written by StoriesOnBoard AI assistant are ready in seconds and your can share it with your team.

Identify Splitting Options With AI

Following the process of how to create Custom AI Templates, you can prompt the AI assistant to advise story splitting options for you and even ask to explain the decision.

Your Custom AI Template for splitting advise can be as simple as:

Check the user story and apply the SPIDR user story splitting technique (Spike, Path, Interface, Data, Rules) to identify opportunities to split it into smaller user stories. Return with 5 new story, for each split, provide only the new user story titles in a bullet list and specify which SPIDR method was used for each. Include a brief explanation of the reasoning. Be strict. Return results in the following format:

For example:

Original story: add dishes to the cart

New user stories:

- Research optimal methods for adding items to a cart (Spike)

- Allow adding dishes to the cart from the menu (Path)

- Design and implement a user-friendly 'Add to Cart' button (Interface)

- Save cart data persistently across sessions (Data)

- Prevent users from adding out-of-stock dishes (Rules)


Running the created Custom AI Template for splitting will return as expected:


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