WatchTower User Stories
Personas
- Developer – Integrates the tracking script, triggers events, and investigates issues.
- Technical Lead – Monitors application health and verifies that deployments are stable.
- Product Manager – Reviews user feedback and satisfaction signals.
- Site Reliability Engineer (Future Sprint) – Configures alerting and notification controls.
Sprint 1 MVP User Stories
US-1: Install Tracking Script
Priority: Must
Feature: JavaScript Tracking Script
User Story:
As a developer, I want to add a small JavaScript tracking script to my website so that WatchTower can capture observability events automatically.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The tracking script can be added with a single
<script> tag.
- The script initializes successfully in the browser.
- A test event can be sent within 15 minutes using the documentation.
- Documentation and example code are maintained and reviewed as part of the codebase (supports Maintainability).
US-2: Capture Frontend Errors
Priority: Must
Feature: Error Tracking
User Story:
As a developer, I want frontend JavaScript errors to be captured automatically so that I can identify failures occurring in the browser.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Uncaught JavaScript errors are detected.
- Error message, stack trace, timestamp, and page URL are recorded.
- At least 99.99% of valid error events are persisted successfully (supports Event Durability).
- Triggered errors appear in the dashboard.
Priority: Must
Feature: Performance Monitoring
User Story:
As a technical lead, I want page load times to be recorded so that I can detect performance regressions after deployments.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The script captures page load time.
- Performance events include timestamp and build version.
- The ingestion API responds within 5 seconds under normal load (supports API Responsiveness).
- Performance data appears in the dashboard.
US-4: Capture User Feedback
Priority: Must
Feature: User Feedback
User Story:
As a product manager, I want users to submit ratings and comments so that I can identify frustration and usability issues.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Users can submit a 1–5 rating.
- Optional text feedback is stored.
- All feedback submissions are transmitted securely over HTTPS (supports Security).
- Feedback appears in the dashboard.
US-5: Store Events Locally
Priority: Must
Feature: Structured Event Storage
User Story:
As a developer, I want captured events stored in a structured local format so that the prototype can function without a production database.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Events are stored in JSON or in-memory objects.
- Each event includes type, timestamp, payload, and build version.
- In the event of a temporary storage failure, queued events are retried automatically with no more than 25% data loss (supports Fault Tolerance).
US-6: Display Unified Dashboard
Priority: Must
Feature: Dashboard
User Story:
As a technical lead, I want to view all captured events in one dashboard so that I can understand the current state of the application.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Errors, performance metrics, and feedback are displayed together.
- New events appear within 5 seconds of submission.
- Dashboard loads within 5 seconds (supports Dashboard Responsiveness).
US-7: Filter Events by Type
Priority: Must
Feature: Event Filtering
User Story:
As a developer, I want to filter events by type so that I can focus on errors, performance data, or user feedback separately.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Users can select error, performance, or feedback categories.
- Only matching events are displayed.
US-8: Associate Events with Build Version
Priority: Must
Feature: Deployment Correlation
User Story:
As a technical lead, I want every event labeled with a build version so that I can determine which deployment introduced a problem.
Acceptance Criteria:
- A mock build version is attached to every event.
- The build version is visible in the dashboard.
- Users can filter by build version.
US-9: Deploy Demonstration Website
Priority: Must
Feature: Project Demonstration Site
User Story:
As a stakeholder, I want to access a deployed website that explains and demonstrates WatchTower so that I can evaluate the prototype without local setup.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The website includes a project overview and demo controls.
- The deployment is publicly accessible.
- The site maintains 90% uptime during the demonstration period (supports Availability).
Near-Term Backlog (Sprint 2+)
US-10: Track UI Interaction Counts
Priority: Should
Feature: Interaction Analytics
User Story:
As a developer, I want to count button clicks and interactions so that I can understand how users engage with the interface.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Click events are captured and stored.
- Interaction counts are visible in the dashboard.
US-11: Visualize Event Flow
Priority: Should
Feature: Event Flow Visualization
User Story:
As a technical lead, I want to see a simple visualization of how events move from the website to the dashboard so that I can better understand the system architecture.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The dashboard displays a basic event pipeline diagram or timeline.
US-12: Notification Controls and Alert Fatigue Prevention
Priority: Should
Feature: Notifications
User Story:
As a site reliability engineer, I want to enable, mute, or schedule notifications so that I receive important alerts without being overwhelmed.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Users can turn notifications on or off.
- Duplicate alerts are suppressed within a configurable time window.
- Quiet hours can be configured.
- Setting changes take effect within 1 minute.
US-13: Threshold-Based Alerts
Priority: Could
Feature: Alerting
User Story:
As a technical lead, I want alerts when error rates or performance metrics exceed thresholds so that I can respond quickly to emerging incidents.
Acceptance Criteria:
- Users can define threshold rules.
- Alerts include the associated build version.
US-14: Horizontal Scalability
Priority: Could
Feature: Scalability
User Story:
As a technical lead, I want the platform to scale horizontally so that it can process increasing event volumes without major redesign.
Acceptance Criteria:
- The system can process at least 50 events per second
- No application code changes are required to scale.