One of the arguments against journey mapping I often hear is that it’s an exercise in futility. You map. You put it on the wall. Nothing changes. To that I answer, “You’re doing it all wrong.”

You map because you need to understand the customer experience; you know that you can’t transform something you don’t understand, but understanding only gets you so far. You must act on what you now know. It’s time to operationalize your maps, but how?

I assume you’ve started with what we call an assumptive map, which is created by internal stakeholders without customer input. It’s what stakeholders assume to be the steps customers go through to complete some task. It’s based on what they know as customers themselves, as well as on customer feedback and other customer data. This is a common starting point for maps, and it’s a common place for mappers to stumble and spiral into futile territory. Keep going.

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