Tips to help you run a journey mapping workshop
Five key takeaways to help you run a journey mapping workshop
I was recently asked to help run a customer journey mapping workshop for a project in the company I worked for. Having never run a workshop before, I jumped at the opportunity because I wanted to gain experience and start developing my skills in this area. I delivered the workshop alongside a colleague who had run numerous workshops in the past.
This article reflects on my experience running the workshop and details the most important lessons I learnt.
Five Key Takeaways
- Have a manageable group size
- The end goal of the journey should be defined before the workshop begins
- Be realistic with timings
- Decide whether it is an assumption or research-based journey map
- Digital journey maps are important
1. Have a manageable group size
We had around 30 people in our session, which was a challenge logistically. Firstly, because the room we booked only accommodated 15 people. We managed this by removing all the furniture and seeking other meeting rooms to book. This gave the attendees sufficient room, when we split them into smaller groups, to complete the activities.
Secondly, the group size was significantly larger than recommended for a workshop (around 5 people). The challenges my colleague and I anticipated included, individuals dominating the conversation and lack of confidence to join in the discussions. To mitigate these challenges, my colleague proposed we use the Lightning Decision Jam method.
The idea of this method is to solve any problem without discussion. We divided the group into 6 smaller groups and slightly adapted the approach to ensure everyone had their voice heard. A benefit that we had not anticipated was that it allowed us to work through more stages of the journey map than planned because different groups worked on different stages simultaneously.
2. The end goal of the journey should be defined before the workshop begins
As part of the workshop introduction, we planned to present the end goal of the journey map. However, we made the mistake of not pushing for a defined journey goal from the Product Manager, so when it came to presenting the goal on the day there was confusion amongst ourselves and the attendees. Everyone had different assumptions and levels of understanding about what was trying to be achieved.
To manage the discussion and make a record of people’s ideas, I wrote down the different ideas of what the end journey goal was. I wrote these on post-it notes and stuck them to the end of the journey map. Fortunately, the Product Manager was in attendance and she made a final decision on what the workshop goal should be according to the business aims.
This was not an ideal way to start the workshop as people became frustrated at the lack of direction and purpose. Next time I run a journey mapping workshop I will definitely make sure I have the end journey goal finalised by the Product Manager, so I can clearly present it to the attendees and ensure everyone's understanding and expectations are aligned.
3. Be realistic with timings
We planned to do 4 activities across the day, however this was unachievable due to factors such as the large group size and allowing time for breaks, organising everyone and feedback time.
My colleague and I decided to cut out the final ‘How might we’ activity so the group could fully complete the third activity ‘Identifying risks’. We spoke to the Product Manager and agreed the ‘How might we’ activity should be completed in another workshop at a later date.
We wanted to make sure the group had enough time to fully discuss each activity, ideate as much as possible, and feedback to the rest of the group. Cutting the activities short to complete the ‘How might we’ activity may have been detrimental to the project, in case key points were not identified and were forgotten.
This experience allowed me to recognise how cutting group discussion short, to keep within strict time frames, prevents fluid and ‘outside the box’ thinking. I realised that doing less, but doing it properly, would result in a more favourable outcome for the overall project than doing many things badly.
4. Decide whether it is an assumption or research-based journey map
During the session, people were coming up with excellent ideas, but they were often shut down by colleagues who wanted data and evidence to back them up. These concerns were understandable as the individuals did not want to progress and take forward an idea which was based on assumptions.
We did not get rid of the assumption based ideas because they were plausible and relevant to the journey. So instead of dismissing them, we recorded them on the map and marked them, using sticky dots, to indicate that they needed validating. This allowed the individuals to easily identify what needed validating before an idea was taken forward and developed.
Next time, before the workshop I will explain to the attendees whether we are creating an assumption based or research-based journey map. This will make it clearer to the attendees whether they should be using their pre-existing knowledge or using factual evidence from research to create the map. If it is a research-based journey map I will give enough notice to collate their research evidence. If everyone is aware the ideas may need validating, this will align everyone's expectations and understanding and will avoid individuals being unnecessarily challenged.
5. Digital journey maps are important
The attendees of this journey mapping session were situated globally. This meant the physical journey map we produced in the workshop needed to be digitalised, so it could be accessed at any time anywhere.
My colleague and I used the collaboration tool Miro to translate the physical post-it note map onto a Miro board. We used Miro already in the company to collaborate remotely, so it made sense to reuse the software. This allowed the attendees to refer back to the map as when they needed to at a later date.
The online map is now a living document that people can edit and modify as changes to the project occur and new ideas are thought of.
I hope you found this article useful and can use these 5 key takeaways to help you conduct a journey mapping workshop!
