User Story
A short description of desired value from the perspective of a user or stakeholder.
Plain English
A sentence explaining who needs what and why.
In context
A user story creates shared context for discussion and is usually refined with acceptance criteria.
Example
“The user story covers exporting a monthly report.”
When you'll hear this
- backlog refinement
- sprint planning
- product discovery
Common misunderstanding
A user story is a conversation aid rather than a complete specification.
Commonly used by
Related terms
Updated: 2026-08-25
