discover-journey-map

name	discover-journey-map
description	Produces a research-grounded customer journey map: stages, touchpoints, emotional curve, pain points, moments of truth, and opportunity annotations, optionally as mermaid. Use when synthesizing a linear or cyclical journey for a named persona and goal. Not for inventing emotions without labeling them hypothetical; do not use as a substitute for interview synthesis or a service blueprint.
version	1.0.1

Overview

A journey map is a synthesis artifact, not a brainstorm. Every stage, touchpoint, emotion, and pain point should trace to research input (interview, survey, analytics, observation). Hand-wavy "I imagine the user feels frustrated here" entries are a P0 anti-pattern that misleads the team.

If the user provides research signal, ground the map in that signal. If they provide hypotheses, label entries as hypothetical and recommend validation research.

When to Use

• Use when you need to produce a customer journey map covering stages, touchpoints, emotional curve, pain points, moments of truth, and opportunity annotations.
• Output is a markdown artifact that may include mermaid timeline / flowchart visualization.
• Supports both linear journey (start to end) and cyclical journey (recurring engagement).
• Composes with utility-mermaid-diagrams for visual output.

Prerequisites

Required inputs:

• Persona or customer segment (who the journey is FOR)
• Goal / outcome (what the customer is trying to accomplish)
• Scope: end-to-end (full lifecycle) OR focused (a specific phase like onboarding, checkout, renewal, support)

Optional but improves quality:

• Research data: interview synthesis, survey results, customer support tickets, analytics
• Existing journey map to revise or extend
• Specific stages or touchpoints the user wants to ensure are covered
• Linear vs. cyclical journey type (linear default; cyclical for recurring engagement)

Procedure

1. Load references: Read ~\agent-skills\library\discover-journey-map\references\TEMPLATE.md to structure the output. Read ~\agent-skills\library\discover-journey-map\references\EXAMPLE.md if you need a complete worked example.

2. Validate inputs: Ensure persona, goal, and scope are provided. If missing, execute the refusal protocol (see Pitfalls).

3. Executive summary: Produce a 3-5 sentence summary of who the journey is FOR, what they're trying to accomplish, where the biggest pain points and opportunities are, and the most important moment of truth.

4. Persona / segment: Write a 1-paragraph summary of the customer. Reference an existing persona if one exists (foundation-persona); summarize key attributes if not.

5. Journey scope: State explicitly what is included and what is excluded.

6. Stages: Define 3-7 named stages. Use customer-language verb forms ("Discovers", "Considers", "Tries", "Decides", "Uses", "Renews"). For each stage, include:

   • Customer goal at this stage
   • Duration estimate (minutes, days, weeks)
   • Trigger that moves them into this stage
   • Exit criterion that moves them out

7. Touchpoints: For each stage, list the touchpoints in a table:

   Stage	Touchpoint	Channel	What happens
   Discovers	Search result	Search engine	Sees competitor option
   Discovers	Landing page	Web	Lands on product page

8. Emotional curve: For each stage, identify what the customer feels using specific emotional labels (frustration, hope, surprise, anxiety, satisfaction) NOT generic ones (happy / sad). Format as a table:

   Stage	Dominant emotion	Confidence (high / medium / low based on research evidence)	Source
   Discovers	Curiosity, mild skepticism	Medium	12 user interviews; 3 mentioned skepticism explicitly

   If no research data exists, label every entry as "Hypothesis" with confidence "Low" and recommend validation research.

Pitfalls

• No persona or scope: Refuse to produce a journey map. "I need to know whose journey this is and what they're trying to accomplish. Provide a persona (or persona summary) and the goal."
• Fabricate emotional data without research: If user asks "what does the customer feel here?" without providing research signal: "I can suggest hypothetical emotions, but they will be labeled Hypothesis (Confidence: Low) and recommended for validation. Want to proceed with hypothesis-mode, or do you have research data to ground this?"
• Service blueprint or architecture diagram request: This skill covers user-experience artifacts only. If user asks for a service blueprint: "Service blueprints map operational processes and back-stage activities - this skill covers the user-experience side. For a service blueprint, use a diagramming tool directly. Want to continue with a user journey map instead?"
• Excessive scope: End-to-end journey for a long-lifecycle product (e.g., 5 years of B2B SaaS engagement) is too coarse. Refuse: "End-to-end over 5 years is too coarse. Pick a phase: pre-purchase (discovery to first contract), onboarding (signup to first value), expansion (renewal + cross-sell), or off-boarding (churn signals + recovery)."
• Single touchpoint as the whole journey: If user provides only one touchpoint (e.g., "checkout"): "A single touchpoint isn't a journey. Either expand to the surrounding stages (e.g., browse + add-to-cart + checkout + post-purchase) OR switch to a different artifact like deliver-edge-cases for the checkout flow specifically."
• Multi-actor complexity: Multi-actor journeys are advanced and complex to maintain. Use parallel markdown tables (one per actor) with shared touchpoints annotated; include a complexity warning noting that multi-actor journeys are harder to validate and research depth should prioritize the primary actor.

Verification

Before finalizing, verify the following checklist:

• Persona and scope are stated explicitly.
• 3-7 named stages, each with goal, duration, trigger, exit criterion.
• Every emotional-curve entry carries a confidence label and a source (or is marked Hypothesis).
• Moments of truth are limited to the 3-5 that decide continue-vs-abandon, not every interaction.
• Each opportunity ties to a specific pain point or moment of truth.
• Mermaid diagram is present when feasible, with markdown tables as fallback.
• Research gaps are stated explicitly.

Related skills

• Inputs: foundation-persona (the WHO), discover-interview-synthesis (qualitative signal), measure-survey-analysis (quantitative signal)
• Outputs feed into: define-problem-statement, define-hypothesis, define-opportunity-tree
• Visualization: utility-mermaid-diagrams (timeline or flowchart)
• Adversarial review: /pm-critic (challenges where emotions and moments of truth lack research evidence)
• Companion command: commands/journey-map.md