Story mapping provides a visual and physical view of the sequence of activities to be supported by solution.
It uses a 2 dimensional grid structure to show sequencing groupings of key aspects of the product on the horizontal dimension, would detail in priority stories on the vertical dimension.
A story map is a tool to assist in creating understanding of product functionality the flow of usage and assist with prioritizing product delivery, such as release planning.
A story map is designed to be an information radiator used to visualize a product requests in the context of usage and priority. The story of map has a central backbone of the elements that will make up the product. The backbone of the large features sets that need to be delivered over the life of the project. The backbone is a sequential set of tasks that need to be enabled by the software. Below the backbone are the details stories that implement the specific pieces of functionality to enable the tasks to be accomplished.
Some of the disadvantages are when the larger context of a product is not accounted for agile projects can be subject to getting tangled in details with an inability to effectively put the components together. They are not good in complex projects an environments that are not process oriented tend to not do well with story Maps.
