thanks marzia, I like the clear overview and definitions you give:) It resonates with my view (and also what I teach at TUDelft) on Journey Mapping (purposely a verb, not a thing). Decide why you want to develop and use journeys; is it for (1) understanding the user experience better (empathic insight), (2) for ideation, (3) decision making (add metrics), or (4) engaging others in the service design process.
Hi Marzia I could connect how jobs-to-be-done can be the Anchor. Jobs are valid over time, solution agnostic and differing circumstances dictate the need for various journeys.
What’s great about AVOC is how it breaks silos across service design, product management and customer experience design. It shows all everyone can play together.
I admit I had to read this article several times to fully understand it, simply because each of the blocks you are investigating is full of meaning and required reflection. I have several questions buzzing into my mind right now, but the most pressing ones are related to the "Change" part. How to convince "a diverse group" of business representatives that this is the right path to go? And most importantly: in such a scenario it is fundamental to synchronise several "Journey Councils" (Trademark by Marc Stickdorn) gathering several "Journey Ninjas" (Trademark by me) to keep the journeys regularly updated and derive proper actions required along several products. People are busy and budget is short. Hiring is frozen. Finding the people to orchestrate the journey system is probably the biggegst challenge to face.
Thank you for your great question! Your query contains several aspects, so I'll address it in two parts for better clarity:
Convincing a diverse group of business representatives: It's essential to note that the 'C' of change is positioned at the end of the framework, not at the beginning. It's not about convincing people that this is the right path; it's about showing and taking them there. By the time you establish your measurement framework (including outcomes, indicators, metrics), stakeholders will be more receptive, if not actively seeking new ways to work that maximise what has been achieved. It's crucial to engage these diverse individuals from the beginning, from setting the anchor to defining what to measure. You'll likely find that they will be the first to suggest rethinking how priorities are set and decisions are made.
Keeping the journeys updated: This is a design ops question, there is a reason why this function has grown exponentially over the past five years. You eventually want to aim for a centre of excellence, a centralised function responsible for how and when the map is updated. But as mentioned earlier, it's a gradual process. First, build the framework, show it to as many people as possible, make it indispensable - as someone said, "once you see it, you can't unsee it. There's no going back to the old ways of working." Begin by having a few people dedicate a portion of their time (like 20%) to managing the framework, using existing staff and creating new, initially distributed roles. Then, you can start advocating for a dedicated person or team, planning for this in the following year's budget. By that time, you should have solid evidence of the framework's value and this way of working. Everything else will follow.
When people recognise the value in something, money suddenly becomes a non-issue. Your focus should be on making that value apparent to as many sponsors as possible. Why should a CTO care about this? Why should a CMO care about this? Why should CIO care about this? Find your answers. That's your story and the key to success.
Thank you so much, Marzia. This was such a timely post because I have been exploring and going nuts on how to organise multiple journeys (especially from a healthcare perspective where the patient is not the customer, but the clinic owner is the customer, + the journeys of a nurse while designing a product - service ecosystem). This gave me a lot of food for thought and inspiration into potentially how I could organise journeys in my project... Thank you :)
Glad to hear the framework was helpful for your work and thinking, Aishwarya! Yeah, healthcare is particularly tricky. However, I have used this view with both healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies, and it holds up. Good luck!
thanks marzia, I like the clear overview and definitions you give:) It resonates with my view (and also what I teach at TUDelft) on Journey Mapping (purposely a verb, not a thing). Decide why you want to develop and use journeys; is it for (1) understanding the user experience better (empathic insight), (2) for ideation, (3) decision making (add metrics), or (4) engaging others in the service design process.
This is a great addition, Froukje. I like the four reasons why you might want to build journeys.
Hi Marzia I could connect how jobs-to-be-done can be the Anchor. Jobs are valid over time, solution agnostic and differing circumstances dictate the need for various journeys.
What’s great about AVOC is how it breaks silos across service design, product management and customer experience design. It shows all everyone can play together.
Thank you so much for sharing this framework :)
Thank you Eugene! I like your analysis, breaking silos was indeed my objective with it.
I admit I had to read this article several times to fully understand it, simply because each of the blocks you are investigating is full of meaning and required reflection. I have several questions buzzing into my mind right now, but the most pressing ones are related to the "Change" part. How to convince "a diverse group" of business representatives that this is the right path to go? And most importantly: in such a scenario it is fundamental to synchronise several "Journey Councils" (Trademark by Marc Stickdorn) gathering several "Journey Ninjas" (Trademark by me) to keep the journeys regularly updated and derive proper actions required along several products. People are busy and budget is short. Hiring is frozen. Finding the people to orchestrate the journey system is probably the biggegst challenge to face.
Hello Jova,
Thank you for your great question! Your query contains several aspects, so I'll address it in two parts for better clarity:
Convincing a diverse group of business representatives: It's essential to note that the 'C' of change is positioned at the end of the framework, not at the beginning. It's not about convincing people that this is the right path; it's about showing and taking them there. By the time you establish your measurement framework (including outcomes, indicators, metrics), stakeholders will be more receptive, if not actively seeking new ways to work that maximise what has been achieved. It's crucial to engage these diverse individuals from the beginning, from setting the anchor to defining what to measure. You'll likely find that they will be the first to suggest rethinking how priorities are set and decisions are made.
Keeping the journeys updated: This is a design ops question, there is a reason why this function has grown exponentially over the past five years. You eventually want to aim for a centre of excellence, a centralised function responsible for how and when the map is updated. But as mentioned earlier, it's a gradual process. First, build the framework, show it to as many people as possible, make it indispensable - as someone said, "once you see it, you can't unsee it. There's no going back to the old ways of working." Begin by having a few people dedicate a portion of their time (like 20%) to managing the framework, using existing staff and creating new, initially distributed roles. Then, you can start advocating for a dedicated person or team, planning for this in the following year's budget. By that time, you should have solid evidence of the framework's value and this way of working. Everything else will follow.
When people recognise the value in something, money suddenly becomes a non-issue. Your focus should be on making that value apparent to as many sponsors as possible. Why should a CTO care about this? Why should a CMO care about this? Why should CIO care about this? Find your answers. That's your story and the key to success.
Dear Marzia, thanks a lot for this long and well tought answer
Thank you so much, Marzia. This was such a timely post because I have been exploring and going nuts on how to organise multiple journeys (especially from a healthcare perspective where the patient is not the customer, but the clinic owner is the customer, + the journeys of a nurse while designing a product - service ecosystem). This gave me a lot of food for thought and inspiration into potentially how I could organise journeys in my project... Thank you :)
Glad to hear the framework was helpful for your work and thinking, Aishwarya! Yeah, healthcare is particularly tricky. However, I have used this view with both healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies, and it holds up. Good luck!