The Making of a Podcast App: User Stories

By : hinklej15

Now that I have an understanding of my user base, as well as a knowledge of what my users are looking for in a podcast app, it’s time to define the key features my MVP will include. Also, to help keep feature development focused, I will write out user stories.

Key Features:

  • Audio player (+/- 15 second button, pause, play)
  • Search
  • Subscribe
  • Channel lists shows what episodes have already been played
  • Ability to download/ delete episodes
  • Ability to share podcasts with friends

For the first iteration of my product, I won’t have the capability to include all features I would like. What’s most important is that I get the product into the hands of users as fast as possible. This way I can get feedback and iterate. I can include more features on a future update. Some secondary features I’d like to include in the future:

  • Ability to donate to podcast channels
  • Ability to make comments directly during an episode
  • Ability to share audio clips from an episode

I’m certain more features will arise after receiving feedback for the MVP.

User Stories:

User stories are a tool to help describe exactly what features users want from the user’s perspective. They help make sure initial development of the MVP only includes core features as well as help mitigate feature creep. For my initial MVP my user stories are:

User Stories Conditions of Acceptance
As a user I want to search for a podcast channel so that I can find the shows I like to listen to
  • To type the name of the channel I’m looking for
  • To type keywords associated with a topic of interest
  • To hit “search” button
  • To view search results
  • To select a search result
 As a user I want to listen to a podcast episode so that I can learn more about a topic of interest
  • To select “My Channels/ Profile” menu item
  • To select a podcast I want to listen to
  • To view a podcast channel’s episode stream
  • To select a podcast episode to play
 As a user I want to download an episode to my phone so that I don’t waste data when listening to it later
  • To select “My Channels/ Profile” menu item
  • To select a podcast I want to listen to
  • To hit “download” button next to episode I want to listen to
 As a user I want to follow a friend so I can see what podcasts they are listening to
  • To type a username in a searchfield
  • If connected to Facebook- to type a friend’s name
  • If connected to Facebook- to see friend suggestions
  • To view search results
  • To select a search result
  • To hit “follow” button on friend’s profile

These are just a few of the user stories for this podcast app. You can view the original document here.

Conclusion:

These user stories are based on my initial round of user research along with what features I want to include in the MVP.  As I continue to work on this app, and in future iterations of it, I will continue to add user stories. Next, I will conduct a card sort with different users to understand the best ways of organizing and structuring my app.