In the 19th STC India annual conference, I took a quick workshop on creating empathy maps. Instead of spending time and effort on creating detailed (and less helpful) audience analysis reports, people are choosing to create this lean scribble called empathy maps. Empathy maps are advocated by Design Thinking, and are extremely contextual, living documents. They help the cross-functional teams to stay in touch with the real user needs while developing a feature/workflow/functionality.

1. Creating
Empathy Maps
- Mugdha Kulkarni
#STCIndia2017

2. In this workshop
• What’s empathy?
• What’s an empathy map?
• Why develop empathy maps?
• Want to create one? – Hands-on
• How to develop deeper understanding?
• A grand map – Hands-on
• Do empathy maps have any enemies?
• Q&A

3. What’s empathy?
• Seeing with the eyes of another
• Listening with the ears of another
• Feeling with the heart of another
- Alfred Adler

4. What’s an empathy map?

5. What’s an empathy map?
Thinks
Says Feels
Does
Pains Gains

6. Why develop empathy maps?
• Does not need money (or even much efforts)
• Feature-specific understanding of users
• Always in front of you
• Benefits the engineering team and product owners, too
• Living document
• Lean document – quick to create/update
• Keeps you focused – (Less is more)

7. Hands-on: Exercise 1 – Users who want to register for a conference
Thinks
Says Feels
Does
Pains Gains
Confident
- Pay the fees
- Register by typing in personal data
It’s a 5 min task.
Once registered, I can plan
my travel and stay.
Unobvious workflow Confirmation mail

8. Thinks
• To believe that
– Something is true
– A particular situation exists
– Something will happen
• To have an opinion about someone
or something.
• To form or have (a particular
thought) in your mind
• Emotions
– Happy
– Confident
– Flustered
– Confused
– Agitated
– Angry
– Exasperated
Feels

9. Does
• Day-to-day tasks
• Actions
– Expected
– Observed
• Organizational
responsibilities
• Governed by short-term
goals
• Impressions
– On the world
– On oneself
• Expectations
• Acceptance of truth
• Governed by
empirical experiences
and belief system
Says

10. Pains
• What makes them
anxious?
• What are the common
hurdles?
• What increases the
anxiety?
• What makes them feel
let down?
• What makes them
happy?
• What helps them
achieve a goal?
• What makes them feel
assured?
• What helps them take
the correct next steps?
Gains

11. Hands-on: Exercise 2 – Place multiple options in each bucket
Thinks
Says Feels
Does
Pains Gains

12. Enemies of empathy maps
Apathy
I don’t care how users feel. Do as told.

13. Enemies of empathy maps
Time
I don’t have time to think about user’s journey.

14. Enemies of empathy maps
Distractions
How do I prioritize important over urgent?

15. Questions?
Curious?
Write to me at mail.mugdha@gmail.com.

16. Thank you!
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