Applying User Story Mapping for Effective Requirement Grooming and Iteration Planning in JD.com’s Store Display System

The author, an agile coach at JD.com Technology R&D Center and SAFe‑4 Certified Agilist, describes frequent problems during requirement analysis and PRD review, such as unclear or ambiguous specifications, shifting schedules, and difficulty completing iteration plans.

To solve these issues, the Extreme Intelligence Store Display System project team adopted the User Story Mapping method, which proved highly effective.

Demand Splitting and Clarification : Product owners (PO) write core business process nodes on individual sticky notes, place them on a top row, and discuss each with developers to surface ambiguities.

Finding the MVP : After clarifying all demands, the PO prioritizes user stories, extracts the minimal set of essential stories (the MVP), and defines it as version 0.5, with subsequent versions (1.0, 1.2, 2, 2.5) based on business needs.

Version Release Planning : The MVP serves as an experimental version for rapid feasibility validation; later versions are scheduled according to business priorities.

Story Point Estimation : The team selects a baseline story (1 point) and compares other stories to it, using collective voting (up to two rounds) to assign points. The total estimated points for the project reached 155.

Overall Iteration Planning : With a baseline consumption of 0.5 person‑day per story point, the 155 points translate to 77.5 person‑days. Considering a 5‑person team with 17 effective person‑days per week, the project requires roughly 4.5 one‑week iterations (31.5 calendar days). The team further divided the work into five iterations, each handling about 34 story points.

Key Takeaways : Traditional PRD reviews often leave ambiguities that cause wasted effort. User story mapping increases participation, transparency, and efficiency, enabling rapid delivery of core features (Version 1 released three weeks early) and fostering better trust between development and business stakeholders.