User stories
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User story: all change on the train
It’s a grey, chilly morning the week before Christmas.
I’m walking through the ticket barriers to board the London train at my end-of-the-line station in Norfolk. I’m pressed for time because, once again, I had to help an elderly passenger who …
User story: ’twas the night before Christmas
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all throughout the house not a creature was stirring, not even a…
Well, it’s a lovely thought but times, it seems, have changed. In fact, it was actually a few nights before Christmas, we were at a friend…
User story: snap snap snap
Wall Street was already hustling and bustling at 7:30am on the Monday before Thanksgiving. However, amid the desk workers jostling their way into the skyscrapers, a few tourists posed for their photos in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Behin…
User story: the selfie and the daisies
It was her stillness which caught my attention. She sat on the grass with an almost statue-like absence of motion. Slowly she raised an expensive, complicated digital camera until it was positioned in front of her face, the colour display angled t…
User story: flip phones, retirees and Blackberry Passports
They joined the train at Cambridge, the halfway point on the line from Kings Lynn in Norfolk to Kings Cross in London. Two ladies, about 60 years old, dropping wearily into their seats with the air of relief worn by those who feel they ‘just made’…
User story: the flustered customer and contactless payment
This is a rural community. Queues form in the local store not because there are too many customers, but rather because what few customers there are stop for extended conversations about the weather. Outside, a pick-up truck sits with its engine …
User story: the walker and the mapped lockscreen
The lock screen wallpaper of his iPhone (a 4S) was clearly a satellite photograph of some kind. Overlaid upon it was the angular, semi-transparent blue track line of a Google Maps-style route. Some operating systems enable mapping on the lock sc…
User story: sisters, airports & bear phones
Whatever they were doing, it was causing a lot of excitement. The younger sister launched herself forward from one of the long metal bench seats lining the airport waiting area. Her phone, an iPhone 4S, was held in front of her face like a viewf…