What is user story mapping, and who are its stakeholders?

Avoid confusing facilitation and ownership when describing story mapping exercises. Scrum Masters can provide experiential knowledge and leadership to their team, but they are also expected to perform facilitation functions, such as ensuring everyone involved has the opportunity to provide feedback regardless of role or title. The team and any client participants involved collectively own the success of this process.

User story mapping is the concept of making a visual representation of how user stories could be developed and implemented to incrementally create value for a client. During these sessions, teams and clients visualize how the development process will build on itself throughout various iterations and releases. It offers a big-picture view that drives conversations about the order of operations, business value, and prioritization. Story mapping can also assist with gaining buy-in from stakeholders on the product itself as well as the value of the Scrum process.