January 25
Story map templates
We have developed the Story map templates to save you time on customizing your story map when launching a new project. Now you can create a template based on your team's preference by customizing:
custom workflow
card colors and names
annotations
pre-set of story cards (if projects start from the same structure)
user personas
team members with access rights
The story map templates menu can be opened from the main navigation panel to create and manage templates. There are two types of story map templates:
private templates - only you and added members can reuse the template -> it's helpful when different teams have unique workflows
workspace visible templates - all workspace members (who can create a story map) can use the template when starting a new story map
Availability: This feature is available in all subscription plans.
January 19
Mobile-friendly user story cards
Answer mentions super-fast even from mobile with the new view of the story map cards. Plus, it fits desktops, tablets, and even mobile screens. You can open any card without loading the whole story map when you get notified via email or Slack.
What you can do in this view:
you can read the whole description
open the attachments
post new comments and reply to mentions
change the card's status (eg.: the customer signed off the user story)
p.s.: editing title and description is right around the corner
Would you share this quick view with your clients? This is easy, hit the new icon on the top right corner to copy the card's shareable link to the clipboard.
There is one more thing... This feature can save your life if you get mentioned on a story card while working on the idea board. Hit the bell icon on the workspace top navigation bar and open the notifications. This allows you to open the story card right over the idea board, and when you're done with this card, you can continue working with your feature ideas.
Availability: This feature is available in all subscription plans.
January 11
Custom workflow
Stuck with the four predefined statues? We can feel for you. Drumroll...and one of the most requested features is finally here. Say hello to custom workflow.
Now you can create as many statuses as you want to tailor the story map to your needs. Moreover, you can customize colors for each status to boost story maps' visuality. We grouped states into three categories: To Do, Active, and Done to help you keep everything organized.
If your story map is linked to an issue tracker mapping states between the two tools is tremendously easy.
FYI: Only story map admins can access the workflow settings.
Having new workflow states won't break your Excel import/export. New states are added to the Excel export and creating a story map from excel works properly from both standard and custom workflow files.
Best practices
tailor the story map's workflow if your planning process contains multiple states like 'spec needed' or 'DOD needed'.
custom states are helpful when working with clients, eg.: planned/signed off/etc
pick a different color if a state requires your interaction like 'blocked', 'TBD', 'Acceptance' etc.
Limitations
At the moment release status reports highlight only the status categories, but we'll update it shortly, to get a detailed report of your iteration.
Availability: This feature is available in STANDARD and PRO subscription plans.
Minor improvements
we've shortened the onboarding flow - good news to newcomers 😉
tags are visible on attached insights as well
corporate subscription admins can turn on/off notification when a user gets the license