Use one Story Map for planning two different solutions of one process

Question

Currently I am creating a story map for a product. We've defined the future process which should be represented in our new product. For the first step the user will get a classical windows application, but later on there should also be a mobile app.

I was wondering whether it makes sense to draw the functionalities of both (classical application and mobile app) in one map or work with two seperate maps.

I think it will be fine to have both in one map, as both are solving the same problems / supporting the process. But as I am quite new to story mapping I would appreciate hearing some experiences / opinions from your side.

Thanks a lot!

Alex

Answer 1

I have found story maps are a useful way to help prioritise a team's work. The map allows you to categorise what is in each release and so order your product backlog.

As such, I would suggest that combining both solutions on one map might be the better approach.

If you do two separate maps then you will have to figure out how to prioritise across them. For example:

Release 1 from Map 1 followed by Release 1 from Map 2

You can make this approach work, but I would worry that it gets confusing if you want to pick up the odd story from one solution or the other:

Release 1 from Map 1 followed by Release 1 from Map 2 followed by Story X from Map 1

Answer 2

The essence of Agile is to do barely sufficient documentation so that you can get going and learn more. For your immediate purposes, you need the process flow/functionality for the classical windows app so draw this first. If you think there may be specifics that are different for the mobile flow, you can add this as you find them later on, or even add them as specifics now, but at a very high level (these are in the future, so the likelihood of changes to the details of these is higher, so keep detail to the minimum required at this stage for decision making/any other immediate purposes that you need them for).