example-mapping

Example mapping is a collaborative story refinement technique that structures discussions using four card types—story, rules, examples, and questions—to create a shared understanding and a ready-to-implement artifact before development begins.

To facilitate example mapping, run a time-boxed 25–30 minute session to surface the story, its acceptance criteria rules, concrete examples for each rule, and any open questions, ultimately producing a structured artifact with a ready-or-not verdict.

You need example mapping during product discovery and requirement refinement when a user story lacks clarity, helping your team surface concrete validation examples and open questions to determine if the story is ready for development.

Yes, in example mapping, each blue rule representing acceptance criteria should have at least one green example to ensure concrete validation and shared understanding before the story is deemed ready for development.

The best way to determine readiness is through example mapping, which produces a ready-or-not verdict by surfacing open questions and validating that every acceptance criteria rule has at least one concrete example.

Example mapping is constrained by its 25–30 minute time-box to maintain focus, meaning highly complex user stories with extensive acceptance criteria might require multiple sessions to fully resolve all open questions and reach a ready state.