Story types: User, Project and Devteam Story
Not all work creates direct value for customers, yet it still deserves to be visible. That is why Betterplan distinguishes three kinds of Stories. All of them go through the same states, but they differ in perspective and in what they contribute to planning.
The three types
| Type | Perspective | Example from QuickCart | Estimation and velocity |
|---|---|---|---|
| User Story | Outward: concrete value for users. | Product search, Choose delivery time slot | Estimated and counted in velocity. |
| Project Story | The framework conditions: organization, hardware, access, documentation, decisions. | Security audit, User Onboarding Docs | No estimation, no velocity. |
| Devteam Story | Inward: what does the team need to keep delivering with high quality? Refactoring, build pipeline, technical debt. | Search Index Optimization, Product Image CDN | No estimation, no velocity. |
In the interface the types are called Story, Dev Story and Project Story, for example in the filter under Task Types and in the Convert to dialog.
Which type when?
Work through the questions in order and stop at the first "yes":
- Does the work deliver direct value to users? Then it is a User Story. It hangs under an Epic.
- Is it technical and internal to the development team? For example refactoring, CI/CD or a test strategy. Then it is a Devteam Story.
- Is it organizational, contractual or documentation, or does it record a decision? Then it is a Project Story.
- Is it only a small step that helps get a Story done within the iteration? Then it is not a Story type but a Workitem.
Separate mixed work
If a Story mixes user value and technical work, the user value stays the User Story. Only split the technical part into a Devteam Story if it is genuinely cross-cutting. If it belongs to this one Story, it is a Workitem of it.
Why the split?
- Honest velocity. Only User Stories feed into velocity. That way it measures how much value the team really delivers per iteration, not how much it worked. More under Estimation basics.
- Visible side work. Devteam and Project Stories get no points, but they appear on the boards. Work that would otherwise vanish stays visible.
- Better diagnosis. If velocity is low, look at the distribution: too many Devteam and Project Stories in the iteration leave less capacity for User Stories. The cause is then not a slow team but an overloaded framework.
Types in daily use
- Creating: When you create a task you pick Story, Dev Story or Project Story.
- Filtering: In the filter, restrict the view to individual types via Task Types. Note that Dev and Project Stories belong to no Epic and disappear while you filter by Epics.
- Changing the type: In a task's edit sheet, use Convert to under Hierarchy to change the type, for example from a User Story to a Dev Story.