---
name: journey-mapping
description: Create, structure, and facilitate user journey maps from scratch or from existing research.
  Use this skill whenever a user wants to map a user experience, visualize a customer flow, identify pain points across a process, or build a journey map artifact. Trigger on phrases like "create a journey map", "map out the user experience", "visualize a user flow", "identify pain points in our process", "map the customer journey", "help me understand our user's experience", or any request involving understanding or documenting how a person moves through a product, service, or scenario — even if they don't say "journey map" explicitly. Also trigger when someone wants to understand the difference between journey maps, experience maps, service blueprints, or user story maps.
---

# Journey Mapping Skill

A skill for helping teams create, structure, and use journey maps to understand and improve user experiences.

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## What Is a Journey Map?

A journey map is a visualization of the process a person goes through to accomplish a goal. It starts by compiling user actions into a timeline, then layers in thoughts and emotions to build a narrative — ultimately becoming a polished visual artifact.

Journey maps are used to:
- Build shared understanding across teams
- Surface moments of frustration and delight
- Identify opportunities to improve the experience
- Communicate user insights in a memorable, concise way

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## The 5 Key Components

Every journey map — regardless of format — should include these elements:

### 1. Actor
The specific persona or user the map is about. One map = one point of view.
- Ground the actor in real research/data
- If multiple user types exist, create separate maps for each
- Example: "Jumping Jamie, a mid-career professional switching mobile plans"

### 2. Scenario + Expectations
Defines the situation and what the actor is trying to achieve.
- Can be real (existing product) or anticipated (design stage)
- Best for experiences with sequence, process, or multiple channels
- Example: "Switching mobile plans to save money; expects to easily find all info needed"

### 3. Journey Phases
High-level stages that organize the rest of the map. Examples by context:
- **E-commerce**: Discover → Try → Buy → Use → Seek Support
- **Big purchases**: Engagement → Education → Research → Evaluation → Justification
- **B2B tools**: Purchase → Adoption → Retention → Expansion → Advocacy

### 4. Actions, Mindsets, and Emotions
For each phase, capture:
- **Actions**: What the user does (narrative, not exhaustive step-by-step)
- **Mindsets**: Thoughts, questions, motivations — ideally in the user's own words from research
- **Emotions**: Plotted as a curve across phases — where are the highs and lows?

### 5. Opportunities
Insights drawn from the map that answer:
- What needs to change?
- Who owns each change?
- Where are the biggest opportunities?
- How will improvements be measured?

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## How to Create a Journey Map (Step by Step)

### Step 1: Define the Actor and Scenario
Ask the user:
- Who is this map for? (persona, user type)
- What goal are they trying to achieve?
- What are their expectations going in?

### Step 2: Identify the Journey Phases
Work with the user to define 4–6 high-level stages. Use existing data if available. If not, reason from the scenario using common phase structures above.

### Step 3: Fill In the Timeline
For each phase, gather or infer:
- What actions does the user take?
- What are they thinking or asking at this point?
- How are they feeling? (frustrated, confident, confused, delighted?)

### Step 4: Plot the Emotion Curve
Draw a single emotional line across all phases. Mark peaks (moments of delight) and valleys (moments of friction or frustration).

### Step 5: Surface Opportunities
At the bottom of the map, list insights and opportunities per phase. Assign ownership where possible.

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## Output Format

When producing a journey map artifact, structure it like this:

```
ACTOR: [Persona name + brief description]
SCENARIO: [What they're trying to do + key expectations]

PHASE 1 | PHASE 2 | PHASE 3 | PHASE 4 | PHASE 5
---------|---------|---------|---------|----------
Actions  | Actions | Actions | Actions | Actions
Mindsets | Mindsets| Mindsets| Mindsets| Mindsets
Emotions ↗        ↘        ↗         ↘        ↗

OPPORTUNITIES:
- [Phase 1]: ...
- [Phase 2]: ...
```

Adapt format to the medium (table, visual diagram, written narrative, etc.) based on what the user needs.

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## Related Methods (Know the Difference)

| Method | Scope | Perspective | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Journey Map** | Specific actor + product/service | User | Understand a specific experience |
| **Experience Map** | Generic human behavior | Human | Understand broader behavior before a product exists |
| **Service Blueprint** | Same journey, behind the scenes | Business | Understand internal processes that support the journey |
| **User Story Map** | Feature-level | Product team | Plan and implement specific features in Agile |

A common sequence: Experience Map → Journey Map → Service Blueprint → User Story Map

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## Facilitation Tips

- **One map, one actor.** Resist the temptation to combine multiple personas.
- **Root actions and mindsets in real data.** Use user verbatims when possible.
- **The emotion curve is the heart of the map.** If it's flat, dig deeper.
- **Phases should feel natural.** If stakeholders debate what they're called, the phases aren't right yet.
- **The goal is alignment, not perfection.** The conversation during mapping is often as valuable as the artifact.

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## Common Mistakes to Avoid

- Making it too granular (journey maps are narrative, not click-by-click logs)
- Having multiple actors on one map
- Skipping the emotion layer
- Creating the map without user research to back it up
- Treating it as a one-time artifact rather than a living document