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User story
A user story is a small, user-visible slice of value that fits inside one sprint and can be demonstrated — traditionally phrased as 'as a [user] I want [x] so that [y]'.
The template is optional; the demonstrability is not. If you could not show it at a sprint review and have anyone care, it is a task rather than a story, and a backlog of tasks makes a board look busy while nobody can say what the user gained.
Stories that cannot finish inside a sprint are epics in disguise. Split them vertically by user value, never horizontally by technical layer.
In Flocci Projects
Flocci Projects models user-visible work as the Feature and Improvement issue types (with Task, Bug and Epic alongside) rather than using the literal label 'Story'.
Related terms
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- Agile
- Backlog refinement
- Blocker
- Burndown chart
- Burnup chart
- Cycle time
- Daily standup
- Definition of done
- Definition of ready
- Epic
- Kanban
- Lead time
- Planning poker
- Product backlog
- Product owner
- Retrospective
- Scrum
- Scrum master
- Sprint
- Sprint goal
- Sprint planning
- Sprint review
- Story point
- Swimlane
- Throughput
- Velocity
- WIP limit