Journey Mapping
Create user and customer journey maps to understand experiences, identify pain points, and discover improvement opportunities. A human-centered complement to process-focused value stream mapping.
What is a Journey Map?
A journey map visualizes a user's experience over time as they accomplish a goal. Unlike process maps (which show what happens), journey maps show how it feels from the user's perspective.
| Element | Definition | Purpose | |---------|------------|---------| | Persona | Who is taking the journey | Focus on specific user type | | Phases | Major stages of the journey | Organize the experience | | Touchpoints | Interactions with your system | Identify contact points | | Actions | What the user does | Understand behavior | | Thoughts | What the user thinks | Understand mindset | | Emotions | How the user feels | Identify emotional peaks/valleys | | Pain Points | Friction and frustrations | Target improvements | | Opportunities | Ways to improve | Prioritize enhancements |
Journey Types
| Type | Scope | When to Use | |------|-------|-------------| | Current State | How things are today | Identify problems | | Future State | Desired experience | Design solutions | | Day-in-the-Life | Full day across contexts | Understand broader context | | Service Blueprint | Journey + backstage operations | Design service delivery |
Workflow
Phase 1: Preparation
Step 1: Define the Journey Scope
## Journey Definition
**Journey Name:** New Customer Onboarding
**Persona:** Sarah - First-time SaaS Buyer
**Goal:** Successfully adopt the product and get first value
**Trigger:** Signs up for trial
**End State:** Completes first project successfully
**Time Frame:** First 30 days
Step 2: Select or Create Persona
## Persona: Sarah - First-time SaaS Buyer
**Demographics:**
- Age: 32
- Role: Marketing Manager
- Company: Mid-size B2B
- Tech Savviness: Moderate
**Goals:**
- Streamline team workflows
- Prove ROI to leadership
- Look good to her team
**Frustrations:**
- Limited time to learn new tools
- Past bad experiences with complex software
- Pressure to show quick results
**Quote:** "I need something that works out of the box."
Phase 2: Map the Journey
Step 1: Identify Phases
Typical journey phases:
| Domain | Common Phases | |--------|---------------| | Purchase | Awareness → Consideration → Decision → Purchase | | Onboarding | Sign-up → Setup → First Use → Habit Formation | | Support | Issue → Search → Contact → Resolution → Follow-up | | Renewal | Review → Evaluate → Negotiate → Renew/Churn |
Step 2: Map Touchpoints and Actions
For each phase:
## Phase: Setup
### Touchpoints
- Welcome email
- Product UI (setup wizard)
- Help documentation
- Onboarding video
### Actions
1. Opens welcome email
2. Clicks "Get Started"
3. Enters company info
4. Invites team members
5. Configures first workspace
Step 3: Capture Thoughts and Emotions
## Phase: Setup - Experience
| Step | Thought | Emotion | Intensity |
|------|---------|---------|-----------|
| Opens email | "Let's see if this is worth it" | Curious, skeptical | Neutral |
| Clicks Get Started | "Okay, here we go" | Hopeful | Slightly positive |
| Company info form | "Why so many fields?" | Frustrated | Negative |
| Invites team | "Easy enough" | Relieved | Positive |
| First workspace | "This is actually nice!" | Pleased | Very positive |
Step 4: Identify Pain Points
## Pain Points - Setup Phase
| Pain Point | Severity | Evidence | Root Cause |
|------------|----------|----------|------------|
| Too many required fields | High | Drop-off data, complaints | Legacy form design |
| Unclear field labels | Medium | Support tickets | Jargon-heavy copy |
| No save-and-continue | High | Abandoned setups | Technical limitation |
| Team invite confusion | Medium | Support volume | Poor UX |
Step 5: Identify Opportunities
## Opportunities - Setup Phase
| Opportunity | Impact | Effort | Priority |
|-------------|--------|--------|----------|
| Progressive disclosure (fewer upfront fields) | High | Low | 1 |
| Save progress functionality | High | Medium | 2 |
| Contextual help tooltips | Medium | Low | 3 |
| Interactive setup tutorial | Medium | High | 4 |
Phase 3: Visualize the Journey
Standard Journey Map Format
PHASE: | Awareness | Sign-up | Setup | First Use | Habit
------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------
TOUCHPOINTS | Ads, blog | Landing page | Email, UI | Product | Product
| | pricing page | docs | | email
------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------
ACTIONS | Researches | Compares | Creates | Explores | Daily
| solutions | plans | account | features | usage
------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------
THOUGHTS | "Is there | "Which plan | "This is | "How do I | "This
| a better | is right?" | taking | do X?" | saves
| way?" | | too long" | | time"
------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------
EMOTIONS | 😐 | 🤔 | 😣 | 😕 | 😊
| Neutral | Uncertain | Frustrated | Confused | Happy
------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------
PAIN POINTS | Too many | Pricing | Long form | Feature | None
| options | confusion | No save | discoverability
------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------
OPPORTUN- | Clear | Simpler | Reduce | Better | Celebrate
ITIES | comparisons | pricing | friction | onboarding | wins
Phase 4: Emotion Curve
Visualize emotional highs and lows:
EMOTION
😊 +2 | ___/
😌 +1 | ___/\ /
😐 0 |____/\__/ \ ___ /
😕 -1 | \ / \__ _/
😣 -2 | \________/ \_/
|--Awareness--|--Sign-up--|--Setup--|--First Use--|--Habit--|
↑
Pain Point: Long form
Phase 5: Identify Moments of Truth
Moments of Truth are critical interactions that disproportionately impact the overall experience:
| Moment Type | Definition | Example | |-------------|------------|---------| | Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) | Pre-purchase research | Reading reviews | | First Moment of Truth (FMOT) | Initial encounter | Landing page | | Second Moment of Truth (SMOT) | Using the product | First workflow | | Ultimate Moment of Truth (UMOT) | Sharing experience | Referral/review |
## Moments of Truth
| Moment | Phase | Current Experience | Desired Experience |
|--------|-------|-------------------|-------------------|
| FMOT | Landing | Overwhelming options | Clear value prop |
| SMOT | First Use | Confusion, need help | Guided success |
| UMOT | Habit | No celebration | Achievement sharing |
Output Formats
Narrative Summary
## Journey Map Summary
**Journey:** [Name]
**Persona:** [Name]
**Date:** [ISO date]
**Analyst:** journey-facilitator
### Journey Overview
[2-3 sentence summary of the end-to-end experience]
### Emotional Journey
- **Highest Point:** [Phase] - [Why]
- **Lowest Point:** [Phase] - [Why]
- **Overall Arc:** [Description]
### Critical Pain Points
1. **[Pain Point]** (Phase: [X]) - [Impact and evidence]
2. **[Pain Point]** (Phase: [X]) - [Impact and evidence]
### Top Opportunities
1. **[Opportunity]** - Impact: High, Effort: Low
2. **[Opportunity]** - Impact: High, Effort: Medium
### Moments of Truth
- **Make or Break Moment:** [Description]
- **Current State:** [Assessment]
- **Recommendation:** [Action]
Structured Data (YAML)
journey_map:
name: "New Customer Onboarding"
version: "1.0"
date: "{ISO-8601-date}"
analyst: "journey-facilitator"
type: current_state
persona:
name: "Sarah"
archetype: "First-time SaaS Buyer"
goals:
- "Get value quickly"
- "Look good to leadership"
frustrations:
- "Limited time"
- "Complex tools"
journey:
goal: "Successfully adopt and get first value"
trigger: "Signs up for trial"
end_state: "Completes first project"
time_frame: "30 days"
phases:
- name: "Awareness"
order: 1
touchpoints:
- channel: "Web"
type: "Blog post"
- channel: "Email"
type: "Marketing email"
actions:
- "Researches solutions"
- "Reads comparison articles"
thoughts:
- "Is there a better way?"
emotions:
overall: neutral
intensity: 0
pain_points: []
opportunities:
- name: "Clear comparison content"
impact: medium
effort: low
- name: "Setup"
order: 3
touchpoints:
- channel: "Email"
type: "Welcome email"
- channel: "Product"
type: "Setup wizard"
actions:
- "Opens welcome email"
- "Starts setup wizard"
- "Enters company info"
thoughts:
- "This is taking too long"
- "Why so many fields?"
emotions:
overall: frustrated
intensity: -2
pain_points:
- description: "Long form with many required fields"
severity: high
evidence: "40% drop-off rate"
- description: "No save-and-continue"
severity: high
evidence: "Support tickets"
opportunities:
- name: "Progressive disclosure"
impact: high
effort: low
- name: "Save progress"
impact: high
effort: medium
moments_of_truth:
- type: "First Moment (FMOT)"
phase: "Sign-up"
current_state: "Overwhelming options"
desired_state: "Clear value proposition"
priority: high
- type: "Second Moment (SMOT)"
phase: "First Use"
current_state: "Confusion, needs help"
desired_state: "Guided success path"
priority: high
summary:
emotion_arc: "Curious → Frustrated → Confused → Satisfied"
highest_point:
phase: "Habit"
reason: "Realizes time savings"
lowest_point:
phase: "Setup"
reason: "Long form, no progress saving"
top_recommendation: "Reduce setup friction through progressive disclosure"
Mermaid Diagrams
Journey Flow:
journey
title New Customer Onboarding Journey
section Awareness
Reads blog post: 5: Customer
Watches demo video: 4: Customer
section Sign-up
Views pricing: 3: Customer
Selects plan: 4: Customer
section Setup
Fills long form: 2: Customer
Invites team: 4: Customer
section First Use
Explores features: 3: Customer
Completes first task: 5: Customer
section Habit
Daily usage: 5: Customer
Emotion Curve (Mermaid XYChart):
xychart-beta
title "Emotional Journey"
x-axis ["Awareness", "Sign-up", "Setup", "First Use", "Habit"]
y-axis "Emotion" -3 --> 3
line [0, -1, -2, 1, 2]
Multi-Persona Workshop
For comprehensive journey analysis, run parallel persona agents:
| Persona Agent | Perspective | Focus |
|---------------|-------------|-------|
| first-time-user-persona | New to product | Onboarding friction |
| power-user-persona | Experienced | Advanced needs |
| admin-persona | Management | Configuration, oversight |
| support-seeker-persona | Needs help | Support experience |
When to Use
| Scenario | Use Journey Mapping? | |----------|---------------------| | UX redesign | Yes - understand current experience | | Service design | Yes - design end-to-end experience | | Customer complaints | Yes - find pain points | | Onboarding optimization | Yes - improve adoption | | Process improvement | Partial - combine with VSM | | Technical architecture | No - wrong level of abstraction |
Integration
Upstream
- stakeholder-analysis - Understand user stakeholders
- process-modeling - Process context
- Persona research - User research inputs
Downstream
- Requirements - Experience requirements
- UX design - Design improvements
- value-stream-mapping - Operational improvements
Related Skills
value-stream-mapping- Process efficiency perspectivestakeholder-analysis- Stakeholder needscapability-mapping- Capability touchpointsroot-cause-analysis- Investigate pain point causesprioritization- Prioritize opportunitiesdecision-analysis- Evaluate improvement options
User-Facing Interface
When invoked directly by the user, this skill operates as follows.
Arguments
<journey-description>: Description of the journey to map (e.g., "customer purchasing a subscription")--mode: Mapping mode (default:guided)full: Comprehensive journey with detailed touchpoint analysis (~10K tokens)quick: Rapid journey mapping (~4K tokens)guided: Interactive journey discovery (variable)
--persona: Optional persona name to use (creates new if not provided)--dir: Output directory (default:docs/analysis/)
Execution Workflow
- Parse Arguments - Extract journey description, mode, and persona. If no description provided, ask the user who is taking the journey, what they are trying to accomplish, and where the journey starts and ends.
- Define or Select Persona - Use provided persona, create default from context (Quick/Full), or interactively define (Guided).
- Execute Based on Mode:
- Full: Spawn the
journey-facilitatoragent for thorough mapping with 4-6 phases, emotion curves, Moments of Truth (ZMOT/FMOT/SMOT/UMOT), and prioritized opportunities. - Quick: Rapid mapping with 4-5 phases, key touchpoints, obvious pain points, and top 3 opportunities.
- Guided: Interactive discovery using AskUserQuestion for research approach and empathy depth, then walk through persona, scope, phases, phase deep-dives, moments of truth, and opportunities.
- Full: Spawn the
- Generate Output - Produce journey map markdown, Mermaid journey diagram, emotion curve (xychart-beta), pain point inventory, and opportunity backlog.
- Save Results - Save to
docs/analysis/journey-map-[persona-name].md(or custom--dir). - Suggest Follow-Ups - Recommend stakeholder-analysis for journey owners, value-stream-mapping for operations behind pain points, and capability-mapping for touchpoint-capability links.
Version History
- v1.0.0 (2025-12-26): Initial release