Journey mapping is a strategic tool that visualizes the process a person undergoes to achieve a goal, encompassing customer journey models and key components such as user actions, emotions, and opportunities. The mapping process involves several steps like defining objectives, profiling personas, and identifying touchpoints, with an emphasis on empathy and group participation. Ultimately, journey maps help uncover insights that can inform product management by transforming opportunities into user stories and actionable backlog items.

1. Journey
Mapping
101
J.J. Toothman
jjt@lonerockpoint.com
Twitter: @jjtoothman

2. A journey map is a visualization
of the process that a person goes
through in order to accomplish a
goal.
Sometimes referred to as:
Customer Journey Map
Experience Map
Service Blueprints
2

3. Journey mapping is a strategic tool
within user centric design processes,
capturing and presenting key insights
into the customer journey model - an
archetypal journey created from an
aggregate of all customers going from
point A to point B as they attempt to
achieve a goal or satisfy a need.
3

5. Key Components of a
Journey Map
● Actor (or user or person)
● Scenario and Expectations
● Journey Phases
● Actions, mindsets, emotions
● Opportunities

6. Benefits
● Creation process forces
discussion, brainstorming, and
aligning of the mental model
● Establishes shared vision
● Useful artifact for
communicating understanding

7. Journey Mapping’s
Secret Weapon
BRINGS PEOPLE
TOGEHTER

11. Types of journeys you can map
● Marketing and Sales Funnels
○ Awareness -> Consideration -> Decision …. Etc
● Brand interaction journeys
○ Example -- Nike: Shoes -> Clothing -> Nike App -> Nike Stores … etc
● Application functionality journeys
○ Example – Any ecommerce site: Browse -> Add to cart -> Recommendations and upsells -
> checkout …

12. How to make sense of
the journey
Goals
● Uncover truths
● Chart the course
● Tell the story
Steps to take
1. Define your objectives
2. Profile your personas and
define user goals
3. List out all the touch points
4. Establish the elements to show
in the map
5. Take the journey yourself and
have empathy

14. What you’ll need
A facilitator
Post it notes
● LOTS of post it notes
● Different sizes and colors
Sharpies
Blue painters tape
A big wall
A good space to work in.
Timer

16. Who to invite ● Organizational diversity
● Executive leadership, middle
management, etc.
● The more input the better
● Works with various group sizes

17. Time commitment
● Half day for the participatory
exercise
● Additional time for reports and
communicating findings
○ Some fancy diagram
○ Executive briefing
○ Findings presentation

18. Setting the stage ● This is a screen free exercise
● Warm up exercises / ice
breakers to get the group
interacting and activate the
mind

19. Start with user research and
personas

21. Define your journey phases
● This is the horizontal axis
● Use larger post it notes

23. What information to collect in
each phase
● User objectives
● User actions
● Touchpoints
● Emotional
● Business goals
● Business actions
● Opportunities

24. The grid is set…now what
● Do the first phase together as a large group to get people
comfortable
● Depending on group size, break into smaller groups and
assign phases to fill out
● Take a little break

25. After your break
● Come back and look for trends, insights
● Feel free to move things around
● Group repeaters and duplicates.
● Duplicates may exist across phases. Those make good
discussion starters
● Gravitate towards discussing opportunities as a larger
group

28. When the session is over
● Take pictures before you pull it all down
● Prepare a summary report
● Create a visual deliverable
○ Can be simple like excel
○ Or fancy like the Rail Europe example
○ Templates exist everywhere (figma, sketch, etc)
● Share and communicate your findings outward

33. So what does this have to do with
product management?
● Opportunities turn into user stories…user stories turn in
to back log items
● Good way to brainstorm specific new feature or
functionality

34. Fin.
● Thank you
● jjt@lonerockpoint.com