In the world of agile development, the terms “use cases” and “user stories” have always generated a lot of confusion in the minds of many professionals. Although the two requirement types are used in a business process depending on different criteria, it is still a subject of discussion for many people. Each of the requirement types has certain pros and cons associated with it.

In this post, we have defined the two requirement types, namely, ‘use cases’ and ‘user stories’ in an elaborate manner to help you understand the difference between the two. Despite the different functioning of the user stories and the use cases, both these terms are used in order to produce the same effect or outcome. Here is all that you need to know about the difference between the two requirement types, use cases and user stories:

Use Cases

A use case is basically a set of interactions between a system and other systems that are used to specify all the possible scenarios. In addition to describing a behavior, it also shows how one can achieve that behavior. Use cases are written to define a series of interactions between the user and the system. And the focus and emphasis of use cases is the way a user will use the system.

Generally, it involves the use of Use case diagrams and the text of the use case. Use cases ensure the ability to break a big problem into many small parts. However, a use case makes available a highly formalized blueprint of a process and it becomes difficult to make negotiations into it.

User Stories

Use stories are simply a short description of the activities of a user when he makes use of the software. In comparison to use cases, user stories leave more space for narratives and they lay their emphasis on the value that one gets after using the system. By collecting all the essential details about the working of a system, it becomes easier for the agile team to prepare a rough design.

The focus of user stories is on collaboration and it allows holding of a conversation with the progress of any project. They help to generate better customer value in order to encourage communication in the execution of any project. A user story follows an informal way of a process and it centers around a goal based on the perspective of a user.

Although the use of the natural language of a business is made in this, it is not an effective way to know the full story. Hence, User Stories leave out a lot of details in a business process which consumes a lot of time in a business process.

Which One to Choose

In order to conclude this subject, we must say that the use of a User Story or a Use Case depends on the requirement of a project. Many experts even recommend the use of both these requirement types as per the need of the situation. In order to get detailed information about a given project, one should rely on Use Cases and for a short-description, it is advised to employ User Stories.