User Story Map in Confluence: Activities and Stories on One Page
Build a simple user story map on a Confluence page: the shopper's activities across the top, the stories under each one, and one row per release. A quick table the whole team can read and comment on.
Step by step
Why a story map
- User story map. A long list of user stories hides the big picture. A user story map lays them out: what the user does from left to right, and the stories under each step. Here it is built as a table on a Confluence page.
A new page
- Create. The map belongs with the business requirements, so open the business requirements page first. Click Create at the top. Then pick Page.
- A clear title. Name the page after the feature: Wish list story map. Press Enter to move into the page itself.
Build the map
- Insert a table. Type /table and press Enter. If Confluence asks for the table size, keep the default of 3 columns and 3 rows, one column for each big activity, and press Enter again.
/table - The backbone. The top row is the backbone: the big things the shopper does, in order. Type Find a product in the first cell, Save it for later in the second, and Come back and buy in the third.
- Release one. The stories go under each activity. Row 2 holds the smallest set of stories that works from start to end. Under Find a product, type Search by name, under Save it for later, type Save from the product page, and under Come back and buy, type Move a saved item to the basket. That row is release one.
- Later releases. Stories that can wait go lower down. Type Filter by price in row 3 under Find a product, for a later release. Not every activity needs a story in every row.
Publish
- Publish. Click Publish. The page goes under business requirements. Click Publish again to confirm.
- The whole journey. Here is the finished map: activities across the top, release one in row 2, and later stories further down.
Recap
- Across, then down. Put the big activities across the top, in the order the user does them. Put the stories under each one, most important first. Each row is a release.
Common mistakes
- Putting features in the top row. The backbone is what the user does, in order, like Find a product and Save it for later. Write each one as an action, not as a system feature or a screen name.
- Squeezing every story into release one. Row 2 should hold only the smallest set that works from start to end. Move anything that can wait, like Filter by price, to a lower row.
- Filling every cell just because it's empty. Not every activity needs a story in every release. Leave the cell blank rather than adding a filler story nobody asked for.
- Publishing the page in the wrong place. Start from the business requirements page before you click Create, and check where the page will go when you publish, so the team finds the map next to the requirements.
When a business analyst uses this
After a discovery workshop for a new feature, a business analyst turns the sticky notes into a story map page under the business requirements. Stakeholders then comment on the page to agree which stories belong in release one before sign-off.
Questions people ask
How do you make a user story map in Confluence?
Type /table on a page to insert a table. Put the user's activities across the top row, then the stories under each one, with one row per release.
What is a user story map?
It lays out user stories by what the user does. Activities run left to right in order, the stories sit under each activity, and each row below is a release.
Why use Confluence for a user story map?
The map sits on a page next to the business requirements. The whole team can read it and comment on it in one place.
