If you’re trying to understand your users well enough to write meaningful user stories—or shape a strong project vision—an empathy map can be a great place to start.

An empathy map is a simple tool that helps you step into your user’s shoes and explore what they see, think, feel, say, and do. It helps you go beyond surface-level assumptions and really consider their frustrations, motivations, and influences.

You can use it early in your project to answer questions like:

• Who are we designing this for?
• What do they care about?
• What’s getting in their way?
• How do they make decisions?

By understanding your users more deeply, you’ll be better equipped to write user stories that reflect real needs, not just what the team thinks people want. And because Agile projects depend on early and ongoing feedback, this kind of user insight pays off throughout the entire project.

Use an empathy map during workshops, team discussions, or even quick brainstorms—it’s one of those low-tech, high-impact tools that can instantly improve how you think about your users.