posted 17 years ago
Well, a user story should represent something about the system being developed that is valuable to the customer.
Some people like to use a formal template for describing their user stories, e.g. As a (role) I want (something) so that (benefit). Using such a template generally helps you think about who (role) a certain feature is built for and why (benefit). Some people don't bother explicitly mentioning the role or the benefit. Some people just write a couple of words down and call it a user story. After all, a user story isn't intended to fully describe the feature but rather serve as a handle.
Have you read Mike Cohn's "User Stories Applied"? If not, I highly recommend it.
