Example Mapping Template
Create a shared understanding of a new product feature.
About the Example Mapping Template
Example mapping (or user story mapping) helps product managers and their teams quickly break down product backlogs. Ideally, example maps help a cross-functional team (for instance, a product owner, tester, and developer) build up a shared understanding and language for why product features need to be added or changed.
Team leads can offer strategic direction toward a cohesive digital transformation (or timely upgrade) so your team has the relevant technology to stay competitive.
What is example mapping?
An example mapping session is a great way to develop structured, concrete user stories. Each example uncovered can help teams explore problem areas for customers and decide on acceptable criteria to build a new feature.
There are a few key elements that an example mapping tool can delineate:
Rules that sum up examples or agree on the scope of the user story
Questions or assumptions about situations where no one knows the ideal outcome
New stories that should be discovered or left out of the final scope
Example mapping also relies on a color-coded system to shape the scope of a user story:
Yellow sticky notes are for defining stories, such as “change of delivery address”
Blue sticky notes are for defining rules, such as “ETA is updated”
Green sticky notes are for defining examples, like “New address is out of range”
Red sticky notes are for questions, like “what if the customer lives outside the free shipping zone?”
This color-coded system helps steer the conversation in the right direction and keep the discussion on track. You can use a blank example mapping template to quickly and easily begin filling in the relevant fields to get the conversation started.
When to use example mapping
Example mapping is a collaborative method that can help your team define what accepted user behavior looks like for different scenarios. An example mapping tool can be a useful way to align your cross-functional teams toward:
Empathy for the customer and the team. Everyone should understand why new product features are needed, and what the customer may be struggling with as far as conflicts between stories and rules.
Shared understanding of the industry or product. By the end of the example mapping session, the team should leave with a shared language and appreciation for what’s at stake.
Small yet impactful potential for change. Think big and act small as a team. How soon can each recorded user story be translated into a real feature?
Rules and examples that follow logic. Specific rules and scenarios should back up every user story.
Create your own example map
Making your own example map is easy with Miro's template. Get started by adding the example mapping template to a new board, then take the following steps to make one of your own.
Understand the problem. Ask your product owner to define the user problem on a yellow sticky note, then explain how this translates to a need for a change in the product features. This helps the team better understand the problem.
Challenge the problem by asking follow-up questions. Collect all your team’s questions on red sticky notes, starting with “What if...?” These questions will live under your user story (the yellow sticky note).
Figure out the rules. Find the rules in the answers to the questions on red sticky notes. Each rule is your acceptance criteria for new product features. Make sure that every new rule can stand on its own. Ideally, it shouldn't be confused with or too similar to another rule.
Describe situations with relevant examples. Green sticky notes are where you record and collect interesting potential cases or instances. Keep the discussion going, and engage your team’s critical thinking skills by checking if you’ve reached the boundaries of the rule of your examples, as well as considering what happens if the rule fails.
Identify outcomes, impacts, and success metrics. What do you hope to accomplish with a new product feature, and how does it contribute to your business objectives? Consider how you might track and test the success of each proposed feature – what behavior you’ll be looking for and measuring.
Turn your stories into action items. These stories can be turned into a development plan for a new feature or product. They can also form the basis of a minimum amount of features needed to be valuable to your customer.
What is an example mapping technique?
The example mapping technique is a helpful method for creating detailed and specific user stories. By identifying examples, teams can delve into customer pain points and set criteria for new feature development. This technique was developed by Matt Wynne, who is the co-founder of Cucumber. It allows product managers and their teams to prioritize and refine product backlogs. Ideally, example maps promote shared understanding among cross-functional teams, such as product owners, testers, and developers, regarding the reasons for adding or changing product features. Through this collaborative approach, teams can define the expected user behavior across different scenarios. Effectively using an example mapping tool helps align cross-functional teams toward common objectives.
Get started with this template right now.
ERD Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Template
Works best for:
ERD, CRM
The ERD Customer Relationship Management (CRM) template streamlines and enhances the management of customer relationships within businesses. It focuses on organizing customer information and interactions in a visually intuitive manner. Key entities such as Customer, Interaction, Sales Opportunity, Product, and Support Ticket are central to the template, facilitating the tracking of customer relationships, sales funnel activities, product purchases, and customer service interactions. This structured approach is critical for boosting customer satisfaction and optimizing sales strategies, making the ERD CRM template an invaluable asset for businesses aiming to improve their CRM processes.
Decision Tree Template
Works best for:
Decision Making, Mind Mapping, Diagrams
Making difficult decisions gets easier when you can look clearly at your choices and visualize the outcomes. That’s just what a decision tree will help you do, empowering you to invest your time and money with confidence. A decision tree is a flowchart that looks just how you’d imagine—with “branches” that represent your available choices. It provides a stylized way to play out a series of decisions and see where they lead before you commit your real-world resources, which is especially valuable for startups and smaller companies.
Product Metrics & Analytics
Works best for:
Product Management, Planning
The Compelling Product Offer template assists product teams in defining and measuring key product metrics effectively. By identifying performance indicators, setting benchmarks, and tracking progress, this template enables teams to evaluate the success of product initiatives objectively. With sections for defining KPIs, visualizing data, and analyzing trends, it provides actionable insights for driving product improvements and optimizations. This template serves as a dashboard for monitoring product performance and making data-driven decisions that enhance the overall product offering.
DevOps Roadmap Template
Works best for:
Documentation, Product Management, Software Development
DevOps teams are constantly creating code, iterating, and pushing it live. Against this backdrop of continuous development, it can be hard to stay abreast of your projects. Use this DevOps Roadmap template to get a granular view of the product development process and how it fits into your organization's product strategy. The DevOps Roadmap lays out the development and operations initiatives you have planned in the short term, including milestones and dependencies. This easy-to-use format is easily digestible for audiences such as product, development, and IT ops.
Timeline Workflow
Works best for:
Project Management, Flowcharts, Operations
A timeline is a visual tool that chronologically plots out projects step by step. It’s an ideal tool for your team to tell stories (such as an overview of events in your organization) and visualize your projects or processes. The Timeline Workflow template is perfect for any project that relies on visual content. You may find it beneficial to use with your team and also to share with other stakeholders or clients to keep them in the loop on your progress.
Workshop Planner
Works best for:
Planning, Strategy
Workshop Planner template helps you organize and plan effective workshops. It allows you to outline activities, set timelines, and allocate resources, ensuring your workshops run smoothly and achieve their objectives.