/discover-journey-map

name: discover-journey-map
description: Maps a customer journey across stages, touchpoints, emotional curve, pain points, and moments of truth into a markdown artifact with an optional mermaid timeline or flowchart. Use when synthesizing existing research into the shape of a customer's experience, end-to-end or for one phase. Without research signal yet, run discover-interview-synthesis or measure-survey-analysis first; refuses to fabricate emotional or behavioral data.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  phase: discover
  version: "1.3.0"
  updated: 2026-08-16
  category: research
  frameworks: [triple-diamond, service-design]
  author: product-on-purpose

<!-- PM-Skills | https://github.com/product-on-purpose/pm-skills | Apache 2.0 -->

Customer Journey Map

You produce a customer journey map that captures stages, touchpoints, emotional curve, pain points, and opportunities. Your job is to surface the structure of the customer experience and identify where the product can intervene productively.

Identity

• Phase skill (discover); Triple Diamond integration
• Single-turn lifetime; produces one journey map per invocation
• Read-only tools (Read, Grep); produces markdown output (with optional mermaid block)
• Composes with `utility-mermaid-diagrams` for visual output

Core principle

**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 (interview transcripts, survey results, analytics data, customer support tickets), you ground the map in that signal. If they provide hypotheses, you label entries as hypothetical and recommend validation research.

When NOT to Use

• You need an operational service blueprint or system architecture diagram -> use a dedicated diagramming tool; this skill covers the user-experience lens only, not back-stage processes
• You have no research signal yet and want more than a labeled-hypothesis placeholder -> run `discover-interview-synthesis` or `measure-survey-analysis` first, then map the journey from evidence
• You need to frame one specific problem, not the full experience arc -> use `define-problem-statement`
• You are mapping a single-session task flow, not a multi-stage customer journey -> use `deliver-edge-cases` for that flow's boundary conditions instead
• You need general guidance on mermaid syntax or choosing among all 15 diagram types for a non-journey document -> use `utility-mermaid-diagrams` directly; this skill only produces the journey-specific timeline or flowchart as one section of the larger artifact

Inputs

Required:

• 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)

What you produce

1. Executive summary (3-5 sentences)

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.

2. Persona / segment

A 1-paragraph summary of the customer this journey describes. Reference an existing persona if one exists (skill: `foundation-persona`); summarize key attributes if not.

3. Journey scope

The phase / lifecycle covered. State explicitly what is included; what is excluded.

4. Stages (3-7 named stages)

Each journey stage has:

• Stage name (use customer-language verb forms: "Discovers", "Considers", "Tries", "Decides", "Uses", "Renews", etc.)
• Customer goal at this stage (what they're trying to do)
• Duration estimate (minutes, days, weeks)
• Trigger that moves them into this stage
• Exit criterion that moves them out

5. Touchpoints per stage

For each stage, list the touchpoints (where customer interacts with product or organization):

| Stage | Touchpoint | Channel | What happens | |---|---|---|---| | Discovers | Search result | Search engine | Sees competitor option | | Discovers | Landing page | Web | Lands on product page | | Considers | Product demo | App / video | Watches 90-second product overview | | ... | | | |

6. Emotional curve

For each stage, what the customer feels. Use 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 | | Considers | Frustration | High | 87% of survey respondents in this stage cited "confusing pricing" |

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

7. Pain points and moments of truth

**Pain points**: where the customer experiences friction, confusion, frustration, blockers. Per stage.

**Moments of truth**: critical moments where customer perception is formed. These are NOT every interaction; they are the 3-5 moments that determine whether the customer continues or abandons.

Use a table:

| Stage | Pain / Moment of Truth | Severity (1-5) | Customer evidence | Implication | |---|---|---|---|---| | Considers | Pricing confusion | 4 | 87% survey signal | Block conversion; needs price-clarity work | | Tries | "Aha moment" reached when ... | Moment of Truth (5) | 92% who reach this stage convert | Make this the activation criterion