In today’s fast-paced product development, saving time and keeping things consistent is key. StoriesOnBoard’s "story map template" feature helps teams do just that. Instead of starting from scratch with each new project, teams can use templates to quickly set up story maps with pre-set colors, labels, and backlog items.
This saves time and ensures the whole team follows the same structure and best practices. With built-in AI tools to generate acceptance criteria or user stories, teams can work faster and stay organized, making product development smoother and more efficient.
Why Standardize Processes in Product Development?
Reduces confusion and improves collaboration: When everyone follows the same structure, it’s easier to understand each other's work.
It saves time: Teams don’t have to create new processes for each project, allowing them to focus on product discovery.
Ensures consistency: A standard process helps maintain quality across story maps (backlogs) by following best practices.
Eases onboarding: New team members can quickly get up to speed by following established processes.
Supports smoother workflows: Standardization leads to more organized and efficient product development.
The story map template feature
To achieve these benefits, we designed the User Story Map template feature.
If you have already created a story map template, you can easily copy its settings when creating a new story map.
How to use the story map template
Let's start by splitting the opportunities into two large parts:
Adding backlog items to the story map template
If you add cards to the template, all new story maps will have the same structure when creating them from that specific template. Let's have a list of ideas about when it's helpful to include cards in the template.
Repeating backlog items: For recurring tasks or features that are always part of your product development process (e.g., login functionality, onboarding flow)
Same discovery with different purposes or users: When you perform similar product discovery efforts but cater to different user personas or market segments, you can reuse the same backbone while customizing for specific needs.
Common user journey structure: If you frequently work on products with a similar user flow, you can predefine the backbone steps (e.g., onboarding, account creation, checkout process).
Predefined risks or technical constraints: Add known risks or constraints to the template, so the team can easily spot and plan for them in each new project.
Cards containing specific instructions or context: If certain cards hold important information or instructions (e.g., guidelines for handling sensitive data, legal requirements), copying them saves time and ensures consistency.
Tasks that require standard validation or acceptance criteria: If you have specific validation steps or acceptance criteria for certain types of tasks, including them ensures the team follows these requirements every time.
Standardize workflow
Most teams prefer working in the same workflow, which means item states are fixed and aligned with processes like QA, review, staging, etc. Using story map templates, you can set up your workflow and reuse it - without setting it up every time you create a new backlog.
User story template - placeholder
Providing a placeholder that guides your team on what must be included in the card description is very helpful, especially for new team members to see the specification guidelines.
Plus, it brings clarity into specifications and makes them easy to scroll.
Coloring and labeling structure
You can use different colors on cards and labels to make the story map easy to read and understand—even for non-technical stakeholders. A settled label and color coding structure helps team members find crucial information such as tech depths, risks, etc.
Annotations (labels) are also copied when creating a new user story map from a template.
AI functions
Story map templates in StoriesOnBoard also allow teams to copy custom AI functions they’ve created, such as "collect subtask," "collect test cases," or "invest analysis." This means any specialized automation or functionality you’ve set up in a story map can be instantly available in new product discoveries.
By reusing these custom functions, teams save time, ensure consistency across different story maps, and share AI knowledge across teams. Whether generating subtasks, drafting test cases, or automating analysis, these functions help streamline workflows and enhance productivity.
