Summary: Assumptions of users plague corporate dev & design teams. Instead, stories of user’s lived experience help dispel assumptions about users. Furthermore, internal teams are filled with unconscious biases— the biggest of which is ‘confirmation bias’ (where you see what you want to see). That’s why, when it comes to building product or service features in line with user needs and abilities, most teams fail. The fix to seeing beyond your own belly button is a great, real, eye-opening, jaw-dropping user story.

📣 Event Alert: March 31st–Masterclass: Storytelling for UX stakeholders, and April 8th– Workshop: Developing Your Storytelling skills

But Agile users stories only get you so far…

You’ve probably heard of or use user stories from Agile teams. They’re often the default way product teams frame user needs. But here’s the catch: if those stories aren’t based in real user experiences, they’re fiction. Fictitious scenarios bring high risk.

This is where storytelling becomes a critical soft skill for UX professionals. Not the marketing kind. Not the your opinion variety. We’re talking about grounded, insightful stories that communicate what it’s actually like to use your product—stories that come from the problem space.

What this Masterclass Covers

In the upcoming Masterclass Storytelling for UX Stakeholders, Frank Spillers and John Alberts dig into how storytelling helps UXers advocate for users and influence teams. The core message is clear:

If you’re not telling stories from real user experiences, you’re reinforcing assumptions.

Zoom in: Designers and researchers often struggle to get buy-in from stakeholders. That’s because data alone rarely moves people. Stories do. When you tell a story that paints the emotional, social, and practical context of your user’s experience, you open eyes—and shift decisions. Story is also the key building block of context intelligence in product teams.

The Power of Real User Stories

Why is storytelling such a critical UX skill?

Because it helps with:

1. Uncovering hidden assumptions
   Teams often operate on “what we think users want.” Real stories challenge that.

2. Bridging research and decision-making
   Stakeholders might not read a 30-page research deck—but they’ll remember a 2-minute story.

3. Humanizing design goals
   Stories bring humanity into feature prioritization, helping teams focus on what matters.

4. Cutting through confirmation bias
   Real stories don’t always support what teams want to hear. That’s the point.

What Makes a Good UX Story?

To influence product thinking, your story must come from the lived experience of users. Here’s how:

• Set the context: What problem was the user trying to solve?

• Define their goal: What did they hope would happen?

• Describe the environment: What constraints were they dealing with?

• Highlight emotion: Frustration, surprise, relief—these stick with people.

• End with insight: What did we learn that challenges our assumptions?

This is what moves design from abstract to actionable.

Common Storytelling Traps to Avoid

1. Inventing personas instead of listening to people
   A persona based on guesswork just mirrors your team’s biases.

2. Treating storytelling as marketing
   You’re not selling your solution—you’re advocating for the user’s reality.

3. Forgetting the user’s voice
   Let real quotes and language shine through. Don’t over-edit the humanity out.

4. Telling incomplete stories
   A good story doesn’t stop at the pain point. It explores context, goals, and consequences.

Why Storytelling Works Inside Teams

Inside design and dev teams, storytelling builds alignment. When someone hears a user story that feels real, they remember it. They talk about it. It becomes shorthand for why a feature needs to change—or why a design works.

This has huge value:

• Faster decision-making
  When teams see the user impact clearly, they argue less.

• More empathy
  Stories connect people to people—not just users to KPIs.

• Clearer priorities
  The real user story often shows what’s urgent versus what’s just nice-to-have.

A Skill Worth Practicing

Storytelling for UX is more than a “nice to have” skill. Why? If your insights don’t land with your team, they don’t get built. Communicating context and nuance requires storytelling.

🔔 A strong UX story is your most powerful design tool.

Next Step:
If you’re in UX, content, or research, join the Storytelling for UX Stakeholders Masterclass (FREE) and the Developing your Storytelling skills workshop to sharpen your influence. Because better stories = better decisions.