

Creating user stories using comics - rollerrubygem
http://rubygem.me/2014/07/21/bringing-user-stories-to-life/

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frobozz
I like this a lot. I've long considered that "As Customer A" or "As a User"
thing can lead to user stories being quite difficult to read, particularly if
designing anything to do with collaboration, even more so if there are
multiple users of the same type.

Like you, I also name my example actors. When Dora the Developer wants to run
a screensharing session with Peter and Patricia the Powerusers, the narrative
is much easier to follow. Using cartoons is an extra step in that direction.

One thing that worries me about the use of cartoons is that it offers an extra
opportunity for unhelpful bikeshedding, even before the features of the actual
system are considered:

"There aren't any women in that department, can you change Sally the
Saleswoman into Simon the Salesman?" (followed by "there aren't enough female
characters")

"There aren't any East Asian characters - Can we make Ahmed the Accountant
Japanese?" (followed by "Can we just make everyone white? I don't want to
offend people with stereotyped caricatures")

"We should put Brian the Blind User in a wheelchair, to show that he's
disabled"

Have you experienced that at all?

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rollerrubygem
I have to say I haven't experienced that. Having said that I'm very lucky in
my company that people understand that this is a quickly thrown together gist,
in a similar way to my wireframes. No one ever tells me to change the font on
my balsamic mockups from Comic Sans to the allegro Lato font family either.

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DawnHannah
great article and love the idea of the comic strips!

