I don't think the problem is "user stories" vs "tasks" vs "issues". I think people have taken the (relatively simple) concepts from agile (as described in the

I don't think the problem is "user stories" vs "tasks" vs "issues". I think people have taken the (relatively simple) concepts from agile (as described in the Manifesto) and surrounded it with a lot of (often rigid) process and structure. Many people really like the comfort that comes from knowing what the process/structure is. And problem-solving tends to add to an existing solution rather than examine whether something should be removed (per recent HN post). Consequently, rules/structure/process grow "unbounded". Fighting this tendency is hard because it goes against the easy, "natural" path.