Use Case in App Development: Best Practices & Applications

A use case describes a specific way a user interacts with your app to achieve a goal — like booking a service, making a payment, or submitting a form — helping teams understand what to build and why.

Why It Matters

• Clarifies what the app needs to do from a user's point of view
• Helps define and prioritise features that deliver value
• Reduces scope creep by focusing on real, goal-driven actions
• Bridges communication between non-technical and technical teams
• Supports more structured user testing and validation

Use This Term When...

• Planning the features of your MVP or roadmap
• Writing user stories for Agile development
• Defining requirements with designers and developers
• Mapping flows in user journey planning
• Preparing documentation for technical implementation

Real-World Example 

In one of our projects, we defined clear use cases to map out how different user types would interact with the app. This helped prioritise features, align stakeholders, and ensure the final product addressed real user needs effectively.

Founder Insight

Use cases are like blueprints for user value. If you can’t describe a feature as a clear use case, it might not belong in your app — at least not yet.

Key Metrics / Concepts 

• Actor – The user or system that initiates the action
• Goal – The outcome the user wants to achieve
• Main Flow – The standard path the use case follows
• Alternative Flow – Exceptions or variations to the main path
• Preconditions/Postconditions – What must be true before/after the action

Tools & Technologies 

• Lucidchart – Diagrams use case flows and interactions
• Notion – Great for writing and storing detailed use case lists
• Miro – Helps teams collaborate visually on mapping out use cases
• Jira – Tracks use cases as user stories in Agile development

What’s Next / Future Trends

Use cases are evolving from static documents to live, testable flows. With AI and automation, they’re now integrated into user testing, documentation, and even code generation — making development faster and more user-centric.

Related Terms

User Stories – Agile-friendly version of use cases
Functional Needs – Often outlined through use cases
User Journey – Broader context where use cases sit
Task Analysis – Helps define the details of a use case
System Model – Maps technical support for each use case

Helpful Videos / Articles / Pages

Blog: Scalability, Architecture and Infrastructure

Call to Action

Still unsure how use cases shape your product roadmap? Book a discovery call with our team — we’ll help you define and prioritise the right features based on real user goals.