User Story Mapping Workshop

If you've ever watched a flat backlog turn into "context-free mulch" where stories lose their connection to the actual user workflow, this is the antidote. It walks you through building a two-dimensional story map: activities arranged left to right in narrative order (the backbone), with user tasks descending vertically by priority underneath. The facilitation is adaptive, asking up to five questions about scope, personas, and workflow before generating the map structure. It's explicitly not a backlog generator or project plan. Use it when starting new products, reframing existing backlogs, or planning MVPs. Skip it for single-feature work or technical refactoring that has no user workflow to map. Based on Jeff Patton's story mapping framework.

skills.sh installs: 2.3K
GitHub stars: 7.9K
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add deanpeters/product-manager-skills --skill user-story-mapping-workshop --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Purpose

Guide product managers through creating a user story map by asking adaptive questions about the system, users, workflow, and priorities—then generating a two-dimensional map with backbone (activities), user tasks, and release slices. Use this to move from flat backlogs to visual story maps that communicate the big picture, identify missing functionality, and enable meaningful release planning—avoiding "context-free mulch" where stories lose connection to the overall system narrative.

This is not a backlog generator—it's a visual communication framework that organizes work by user workflow (horizontal) and priority (vertical).

Input

Works best with: The system or workflow to map. Also useful: The primary users, workflow steps you already know, and what the map must decide (MVP scope, release plan).

Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended ARGUMENTS: line — counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask.

SKILL.md on GitHub

Details

Repository: github.com/deanpeters/product-manager-skills
Categories: Release Management, Automation & Workflows
First seen: Apr 16, 2026