Solution-Agnostic User Stories: Unlocking Better Product Decisions

Let me tell you about a mistake I made early in my career. A client came to me saying, “We need a chatbot on our website.” So I built them a chatbot. Guess what? Six months later, it had a 2% engagement rate and users were frustrated.

The real problem? Customers couldn’t find answers to common questions quickly. A chatbot was a solution, but definitely not the best solution. We could have improved search, created a better FAQ structure, or streamlined their navigation. But we jumped straight to implementation without truly understanding the underlying need.

That’s the danger of solution-specific thinking – and why being solution-agnostic is a game-changer.

What Does “Solution-Agnostic” Actually Mean?

Think of solution-agnostic as keeping an open mind about how you’ll solve a problem before you’ve fully explored what the problem really is.

Solution-specific thinking: “I want a button on the dashboard.” Solution-agnostic thinking: “I want to access reports quickly whenever I need them.”

See the difference? The first locks you into one specific implementation. The second opens up possibilities: maybe you need a button, or maybe you need a keyboard shortcut, a voice command, a mobile app notification, or reports that automatically arrive in your inbox.

Being solution-agnostic means describing the what and why without prescribing the how.

A Real-World Analogy

Imagine you’re hungry and tell your friend, “I want a pepperoni pizza from that specific place on 5th Street.”

But what if:

• That pizzeria is closed today
• You discover you’re lactose intolerant
• Your friend knows an amazing pasta place nearby
• It’s 95 degrees outside and hot food sounds terrible

If instead you said, “I’m hungry and want something filling and satisfying,” you’ve stayed solution-agnostic. You’ve expressed your true need (hunger, satisfaction) without limiting your options to one specific solution (that particular pizza).

Why This Matters in Product Development

1. You Get Better Solutions

When you don’t prescribe the solution upfront, your team can explore creative alternatives you might never have considered.

Example:

• ❌ Solution-specific: “As a user, I want a dropdown menu to filter my emails by sender.”
• ✅ Solution-agnostic: “As a user, I want to quickly find emails from specific people so I can manage my inbox efficiently.”

The second version might lead to:

• Smart search with auto-complete
• AI-powered categorization
• Quick filters with keyboard shortcuts
• Pinned sender lists
• Or yes, a dropdown menu if that’s truly the best option

2. You Avoid Expensive Mistakes

Building features is expensive. Building the wrong features is even more expensive.

Personal Case Study: A retail client once insisted on implementing a complex barcode scanning system for inventory management. When I dug into the actual problem (inventory discrepancies), it was discovered that the real issue was staff not recording items properly. The solution-agnostic approach led me to a simple mobile form with photos and timestamps – built in 2 weeks instead of 6 months, at a fraction of the cost.

3. You Empower Your Team

Developers, designers, and UX researchers are creative problem-solvers. When you hand them a problem instead of a prescription, you unlock their expertise.

Think about it: Would you tell a chef exactly how to cook your meal, or would you tell them what flavors you enjoy and trust their expertise?

4. You Stay Technology-Agile

Technology changes rapidly. A solution that’s cutting-edge today might be obsolete tomorrow.

If your user story says “I want a mobile app,” you’re locked into that medium. But if it says “I want to access my account on the go,” suddenly you’re open to:

• Progressive web apps
• Responsive websites
• Native apps
• Future technologies we haven’t invented yet

How to Write Solution-Agnostic User Stories

Let’s transform that original story step-by-step.

Original: “As a user, I want a new button on the dashboard to access the report.”

Step 1: Identify the Implementation Details

• “new button” – That’s a UI element
• “on the dashboard” – That’s a location
• These are solutions, not needs

Step 2: Ask “Why?” Five Times

• Why do you want a button? → To access the report
• Why access the report? → To see performance metrics
• Why see performance metrics? → To make informed decisions
• Why make informed decisions? → To improve business outcomes
• Why is that difficult now? → Reports are buried three clicks deep

Step 3: Focus on the Intent What’s the real user need? Quick access to performance data for decision-making.

Rewritten (Solution-Agnostic): “As a user, I want to quickly access my performance reports so I can make timely, data-driven decisions about my business.”

Even Better (with context): “As a business owner, I want immediate visibility into my weekly sales performance so I can adjust my inventory and marketing strategies in real-time.”

Practical Framework: The Solution-Agnostic Checklist

Before you write or approve any user story, run it through this filter:

✅ Does it describe a user goal or need? ✅ Does it explain the value or benefit? ✅ Could multiple different solutions satisfy this need? ✅ Does it avoid mentioning specific UI elements? (buttons, dropdowns, modals) ✅ Does it avoid mentioning specific technologies? (databases, APIs, frameworks) ✅ Would someone outside your technical team understand it?

If you answered “no” to any of these, you’re probably being too solution-specific.

Common Traps and How to Avoid Them

Trap #1: Hidden Implementation Details

❌ “As a user, I want to swipe left to delete items” ✅ “As a user, I want to quickly remove items I no longer need”

The word “swipe” is a solution. What if the user is on desktop? What if they prefer keyboard shortcuts?

Trap #2: Technology Tunnel Vision

❌ “As a user, I want push notifications for new messages” ✅ “As a user, I want to know immediately when I receive important messages”

Push notifications are one way to achieve this. Maybe email digests, browser notifications, or a message counter work better.

Trap #3: Copying Competitors

❌ “As a user, I want a feature like Instagram Stories” ✅ “As a user, I want to share temporary content that disappears after 24 hours to maintain my privacy”

Instagram Stories is the competitor’s solution. Understanding why users love that feature lets you potentially create something even better.

The Benefits: What You Actually Gain

Let me break down the tangible advantages you’ll see when you embrace solution-agnostic thinking:

🎯 Better Innovation

Your team isn’t constrained by preconceived solutions. They’re free to innovate and might discover approaches that delight users in unexpected ways.

💰 Cost Efficiency

You build what users actually need, not what someone assumed they needed. This means fewer wasted features and faster time-to-value.

🔄 Greater Flexibility

Market conditions change. User preferences evolve. Solution-agnostic stories adapt naturally because they’re anchored to needs, not implementations.

🤝 Improved Collaboration

Designers, developers, and product managers speak a common language focused on outcomes, not outputs. This reduces friction and misalignment.

📊 Measurable Success

When stories focus on user goals, you can measure whether you achieved those goals – regardless of how you implemented the solution.

🚀 Faster Delivery

Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. When teams aren’t committed to a specific implementation, they can ship value faster with simpler approaches.

Putting It All Together: A Before & After Gallery

Example 1: E-commerce

• ❌ Before: “As a shopper, I want a ‘Buy Now’ button that skips the cart”
• ✅ After: “As a shopper, I want to complete purchases quickly when I’ve already decided to buy”

Example 2: Project Management

• ❌ Before: “As a team member, I want a Gantt chart to see project timelines”
• ✅ After: “As a team member, I want to understand project progress and dependencies so I can plan my work effectively”

Example 3: Healthcare

• ❌ Before: “As a patient, I want an SMS reminder for appointments”
• ✅ After: “As a patient, I want to remember my upcoming appointments so I don’t miss important healthcare visits”

Your Action Plan: Starting Tomorrow

Here’s how to implement solution-agnostic thinking immediately:

1. Review your current backlog – Find three stories with implementation details and rewrite them
2. Train your stakeholders – Share this concept in your next planning meeting
3. Create a team agreement – Establish that user stories must pass the solution-agnostic checklist
4. Celebrate discovery – When alternative solutions emerge during development, highlight them as wins
5. Measure outcomes – Track whether user needs were met, not just whether features were shipped

5 Powerful AI Prompts for Writing Solution-Agnostic User Stories 🎯

Prompt 1: The Solution-Agnostic Audit

I need you to review the following user stories and evaluate each one against the solution-agnostic criteria. For each story, provide:
1. ✅ or ❌ for each criterion:
   - Does it describe a user goal or need?
   - Does it explain the value or benefit?
   - Could multiple different solutions satisfy this need?
   - Does it avoid mentioning specific UI elements? (buttons, dropdowns, modals)
   - Does it avoid mentioning specific technologies? (databases, APIs, frameworks)
   - Would someone outside your technical team understand it?
2. A brief explanation of what makes it solution-specific or solution-agnostic
3. A score out of 6 for overall solution-agnostic quality
Here are my user stories:
[PASTE YOUR USER STORIES HERE]
For any story scoring less than 5/6, flag it as needing revision.

When to use this: During backlog refinement sessions or before sprint planning to quickly identify problematic stories.

Prompt 2: The Transformation Workshop

Act as an expert Business Analyst specializing in solution-agnostic user stories. I'll provide user stories that contain implementation details, and I need you to:
1. Identify all solution-specific elements (UI components, technologies, specific features)
2. Ask "Why?" questions to uncover the underlying user need (use the 5 Whys technique)
3. Rewrite each story to be solution-agnostic while preserving the core user intent
4. Provide 2-3 alternative solutions that could satisfy the same need
5. Explain what makes your rewritten version better
Original user story:
[PASTE YOUR USER STORY HERE]
Format your response as:
**🔍 Implementation Details Found:** [list them]
**🤔 The Five Whys:** [your questioning process]
**✨ Solution-Agnostic Version:** [rewritten story]
**💡 Alternative Solutions:** [3 different ways to solve this]
**🎯 Why This Works:** [explanation]

When to use this: When you have existing stories that need improvement or when training your team on solution-agnostic thinking.

Prompt 3: The Stakeholder Translator

I'm receiving requirements from stakeholders that are highly solution-specific. Help me translate these into solution-agnostic user stories by:
1. Extracting the true business value and user intent
2. Removing technical jargon and implementation details
3. Reframing the requirement as a user need, not a feature request
4. Adding context about who the user is and what situation they're in
5. Suggesting clarifying questions I should ask the stakeholder to validate the real need
Stakeholder requirement:
[PASTE STAKEHOLDER REQUEST HERE]
Include:
- **Current State:** What the stakeholder said
- **Hidden Assumptions:** What solution-specific elements are present
- **User Need:** The actual problem to solve
- **Rewritten Story:** In proper user story format
- **Validation Questions:** 3-5 questions to ask the stakeholder

When to use this: When stakeholders come to you with pre-defined solutions (“We need a chatbot” or “Add a button here”).

Prompt 4: The Pattern Detective

Analyze the following set of user stories and help me identify patterns of solution-specific thinking in my team's work:
[PASTE 5-10 USER STORIES HERE]
For this analysis, provide:
1. **Common Anti-Patterns:** What types of implementation details appear most frequently? (e.g., UI elements, specific technologies, competitor features)
2. **Root Cause:** Why might the team be gravitating toward these solution-specific patterns?
3. **Impact Assessment:** How is this limiting our product thinking?
4. **Team Training Plan:** Specific recommendations for helping the team write more solution-agnostic stories
5. **Template Suggestion:** A customized user story template for my team based on these patterns
Be specific about which stories exhibit which anti-patterns, and provide concrete examples of better alternatives.

When to use this: Monthly or quarterly retrospectives to improve your team’s overall story-writing quality.

Prompt 5: The Innovation Catalyst

I have a solution-agnostic user story, and I want to explore innovative solutions before committing to an implementation. Help me diverge creatively by:
1. Restating the core user need in 3 different ways to ensure we understand it fully
2. Brainstorming 10 wildly different solutions (from simple to complex, conventional to innovative)
3. Evaluating each solution against these criteria:
   - User value (1-5)
   - Implementation complexity (1-5)
   - Innovation potential (1-5)
   - Time to value (1-5)
4. Recommending the top 3 solutions to explore further with rationale
5. Identifying any assumptions we're making that might limit our thinking
User story:
[PASTE YOUR SOLUTION-AGNOSTIC USER STORY HERE]
Context about our product/users:
[ADD RELEVANT CONTEXT]
Present your brainstorm in a structured format with clear scoring and reasoning for each solution.

When to use this: After you’ve written a good solution-agnostic story and before design/development begins, to explore the full solution space.

🎯 Pro Tips for Using These Prompts

Layer Them Together: Start with Prompt 1 (audit) → Use Prompt 2 (transform) for failing stories → Validate with Prompt 3 (stakeholder translator) → Run Prompt 4 (pattern detective) quarterly → Use Prompt 5 (innovation catalyst) for high-impact features

Customize the Context: Add details about your product, industry, and users to get more relevant suggestions. The AI works better with context!

Create Your Own Follow-Up Questions: After the AI responds, dig deeper with questions like:

• “What other alternatives haven’t we considered?”
• “How would this work for [specific user persona]?”
• “What assumptions are we making about the user’s context?”

Build a Prompt Library: Save variations of these prompts that work well for your specific team and product context. Add examples from your own backlog as reference material.

Combine with Human Judgment: AI is a powerful tool for identifying issues and generating alternatives, but you still need human insight to understand nuance, business constraints, and strategic priorities. Use these prompts to augment your expertise, not replace it.

📋 Quick Reference Card

Copy this checklist for your daily work:

🚀 Bonus: The Meta Prompt

Once you’re comfortable with these five prompts, try this meta-prompt to generate custom prompts for your specific situations:

I'm a IT Business Analyst working on [describe your product/domain]. I frequently encounter [describe your specific challenge with user stories]. 
Create a custom AI prompt that will help me write more solution-agnostic user stories for this specific situation. The prompt should:
- Address my unique challenge
- Be practical and quick to use
- Produce actionable output
- Follow the solution-agnostic principles
Make it specific to my context, not generic.

These prompts are your secret weapon for maintaining solution-agnostic discipline, even when stakeholders, time pressure, or habit try to pull you toward premature solutions. Bookmark this page, customize these prompts for your workflow, and watch your product decisions improve! 🎉

The Bottom Line

Being solution-agnostic isn’t about avoiding decisions or being vague. It’s about making sure you’re solving the rightproblem before you commit to how you’ll solve it.

Remember: Users don’t want buttons, dropdowns, or dashboards. They want to accomplish goals, feel productive, and have delightful experiences. When you focus on those underlying needs instead of jumping to implementation, you create products that truly resonate.

The next time someone says, “We need a button for X,” take a breath and ask, “What are we really trying to achieve here?” That simple question might just transform your entire product strategy.

Now go forth and stay solution-agnostic, my friend. Your users (and your development team) will thank you. 🎉