????, ????, or ????<\/h2>\n
There are many variations of experience maps beautifully illustrated and explained in Mapping Experiences<\/a> by Jim Kalbach<\/a>. We purposely kept our user journey maps very simple, so people wouldn\u2019t overanalyze the high and low points. We used a linear graph and a 3-point scale summarizing the user\u2019s mood at each step: neutral, delight, or negative.<\/p>\n Here is an example of an early artifact:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Anyone can make a basic user journey map in a few minutes, IF you know what to map and can accurately depict how the user is experiencing it.<\/p>\n The very first draft of a user journey map is typically a strawman. How do we know this is the user\u2019s real goal? How do we know these are the real steps most users take? How do we know our assessment of each step is correct? We continued to refine them, strengthening them with more supporting evidence.<\/p>\n In time, we began to produce user journey maps that were comprehensive in their findings and recommendations, yet immediately insightful at a glance. I knew we were on to something when we presented the user journey map below to our most senior executives, and watched them sit up, lean forward, and begin asking questions.<\/p>\n Users embark on a journey to complete a goal. Our aim is to understand the goal and the steps required to reach it, then eliminate moments of frustration and add at least a few moments of\u00a0delight.<\/p>\n Even with the right user goal, the right set of steps, and a straightforward visualization, some readers may be justifiably skeptical of the findings or dismissive of their urgency and importance. So I directed the team to build a bibliography for each step of our key user journeys. I wanted a skeptical reviewer to be able to drill down and become convinced of the findings depicted in the map even if they did not initially agree.<\/p>\n While drill down<\/em> is valuable, the real breakthroughs started to happen when we began to roll up<\/em> our findings into a summary view.<\/p>\n As we started mapping experiences that cut across different teams and business divisions, we revealed a lot of blind spots. We found that broken moments in the user journey often occurred when the user flow was switching between two organizations. Moving from a marketing page to a product page. Transferring the user to a signup screen \u2014 owned by a different organization! \u2014 and then getting them safely back to the product they cared about. Navigating between different products to connect them in a workflow.<\/p>\n User journey maps \u2014 like actual users \u2014 ignore the boundaries between organizations. Users just want things to work. And those parts of a user flow that hand off between organizations sometimes place the responsibility on the user to mind the gap.<\/p>\n Photo by Brigitte\u00a0Werner<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n Okay, so we found lots of broken experiences in the seams of the org chart. The knee jerk reaction to this is to \u201ccombine those two teams,\u201d or \u201cget everyone talking to everyone else!\u201d But with thousands of people in a large organization, that recipe simply doesn\u2019t scale. We needed a way to make people aware of the full picture, and tuned in to neighboring puzzle pieces, while keeping them focused on their piece.<\/p>\n We needed radical candor without radical chatter.<\/p>\n In the face of competing priorities, how do you mobilize an organization to focus on and fix a long list of small user experience problems?<\/p>\n I began an internal public relations campaign to convince people up and down the org chart of the opportunity. I wanted to ensure everyone knew our users\u2019 top goals and where they stumble when trying to achieve those goals. Then, I rolled those up into a set of investment opportunities and pitched them to senior leaders as potential initiatives. My goal was to institutionalize radical candor, by publicizing problems and packaging them up as opportunities.<\/p>\n Here are the steps I took:<\/p>\n Let\u2019s go through each of these steps.<\/p>\n To begin, I compiled a Top 10 List of our jobs to be done. The Theory of Jobs To Be Done<\/a>, popularized by Clayton Christensen<\/a>, basically says that customers encounter situational needs and in response they \u201chire\u201d a product to do a \u201cjob\u201d for them. Demographics and branding are secondary to the customer\u2019s core motive, which is to get a specific job done, and use whichever product best meets that need.<\/p>\n So I asked, what job does the user want to accomplish with our platform, and which products on the platform will they hire in order to achieve it? I compiled data from our sales teams, product management, developer advocates, competitive analysis, and user research.<\/p>\n I set an arbitrary limit of 10 to keep us focused on the most important ones. For a simpler product, you might go with two or three. Don\u2019t start with a list of 50 jobs to be done. It will impress everyone \u2014 and exhaust them. Focus for greater momentum.<\/p>\n After I identified the jobs to be done, Christopher Garrison<\/a> led an effort to map an end-to-end user journey for each job to be done. Austin Auth<\/a> created a Keynote template that we used as a toolkit. Grab it and use it!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/1XkR8px3SjUrLqOutHZZbUw.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/1ZIiGU6NaXW6euCFpghJ2aQ.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nMind the gap between\u00a0teams<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/18DdCCKAEFElZIhiQR0qH8Q.jpeg\")
<\/a>Radical organizational candor<\/h2>\n
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1. Identify the Jobs To Be\u00a0Done<\/h2>\n
2. Map and grade each user\u00a0journey<\/h2>\n