Phase: Discovery
Summary: Participants break down a user’s experience with a product into steps and themesSuggestion: Common to run workshop as part of a combined Empathy and User Journey Mapping workshopcreate fictitious characters representing key characteristics of user group
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What is a User
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Persona workshop?
User journey mapping is a popular design workshop technique to break down how a user experiences a product into a sequence of steps and themes. A user journey map is essentially a large table with two primary axes. The horizontal axis represents steps the user takes over time, and the vertical axis represents different thematic experiences the user encounters while using the product.There are two types of user journey maps that can be created during a workshop. The first type is a retrospective map that outlines the steps users currently take while using the product (often based on research findings). The second is a prospective map to examine how you think users will act with a new product ideapersonas are fictitious characters who represent specific key characteristics of a user group. In a user persona workshop, participants gather to create user personas to gain an understanding of different user types. Ideally, user personas should be based on research data (e.g. user interviews, field studies). If research data is not available, “proto-personas” can be created based on assumptions the team has about users. User persona workshops commonly run for about one hour.
When to use a User
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Persona workshop
User journey mapping workshops generally take place at the beginning of the design process and after the completion of some user research. It can provide a good starting-off point for the first few weeks of discovery and exploration.
It is important to note that if the map is to be based on assumptions the team is making about user behaviour rather than actual user data, it should be considered a hypothesis to be tested against data collected during future user research.
Benefits and frustrations
Benefits
Shift team and stakeholder mindset from features-first to a user and journey-centric process
Establish focus on customer needs
Help team members create a connection with users
Create alignment around common goals and product vision
Identify potential product opportunities
Frustrations
Difficulty defining journey map process, scope and standardization
Challenging to find data which accurately reflects user experiences in the real-world vs. superficial goals and needs
Planning
User journey mapping workshops are generally conducted in an informal manner to create an environment to support brainstorming among participants.
The following are a list of planning questions and requirements to considerCreating user personas are generally the first step of any product development team after some user research has been completed.
Benefits and pitfalls
Benefits
Team members gain a better understanding user types, context, problems, and motivations
“Proto-personas” can be used as a hypothesis to compare with future user data
Pitfalls
Can be used as justification for poor product decisions
Traits captured may be aspirational vs what real users want and need as a result of the persona’s fictional nature and creation at the beginning of product development cycle
Planning
How to plan a user persona workshop:
Create a cross functional participant list including team members, stakeholders, and other individuals who have contact with users (if required) to attend the workshop. The ideal size is 5-6 participants per user journey map. If there are more participants, divide into multiple groups with each creating a different map.
Define the objective of the workshop. Ask – What do you want to achieve? Why is it essential to answer this question before moving forward? Is the objective measurable?
Decide on which user type, user journey and scenario the workshop will focus on (pick one user type / journey / scenario focus on per map) and invite participants who have knowledge in this areae.g. salespeople, support, business managers) to attend the workshop.
Gather existing research and artifacts (if available) and to share with all participants in with advance of the workshop (e.g. existing UXuser interviews, field research, analytics, research reports, etc.). You can create a shared repository for participants to access.
Can assign “homework” to prepare participants such as open-ended thought-provoking starter questions, a short summary of available research, slides to highlight key concepts, background reading (articles), etc.
Select Choose a location or virtual platform to hold workshop.
Supplies
Gather supplies to create a user journey map table:
Whiteboard, foam board or substitute material
Erasable markers, tape post-its (need three colours: pink, yellow and blue), Sharpies, dot stickers, and notepads for participants (supplies are dependent on materials used to create the user journey map)
Creating the User Journey Map
Create user journey map table for participants to complete during workshop (axes steps and themes can be added in advance or during workshop). You can use pink Post-it notes to represent the horizontal and vertical axis headers (appendix A).
Horizontal axis represents steps the user takes over time and are unique to each product.
Vertical axis represents thematic experiences the user encounters such as:
Actions - tasks user completes to move to next step
Questions - anything the user needs answered to move to next step
Happy moments - positive interactions that improve the experience for users
Pain points - frustrations and annoyances that create a bad experience for users
Opportunities - design ideas, concepts and enhancements that could be added to address pain points or improve user experience
When creating the journey map, it’s a good idea to make sure it is flexible and can be amended during the workshop (e.g. add/remove columns or rows, change horizontal header titles).
Conducting a User Journey Mapping workshop
How to run a user journey workshop:
Gather the group of team members, stakeholders, and users (if appropriate) in a room
Review and/or fill in the horizontal and vertical axes (as appropriate) with group
Give the team Sharpies and post-it notes (yellow and blue)
Group works together to fill in the grid, referencing the empathy map for inspiration (if completed)
Use yellow Post-its fill in the grid for all rows except “Opportunities”
Be sure to leave the “Opportunities” vertical axis blank until all others are complete using the blue Post-its
Don’t worry if some grids are blank as this is normal
When the table is complete, participants can also be asked to put a dot sticker on what they consider to be their top three pain points
After workshop, “Opportunities” can be placed in a separate table with the column headings “Problem” and “Opportunity” to be addressed later (appendix B)Print multiple copies of the user persona template.
Gather pens and notepads for participants and moderator.
Conducting a User Persona workshop
How to run a persona workshop:
Divide participants into groups of 4-6.
Assign each team a user type.
Ask each group to fill out a user persona for each user type (see Appendix). Begin with Name and Title/Background sections (this can be updated at end of exercise). It is suggested participants give users a unique name (e.g. Danny Developer) so it is catchy, memorable and makes it easy for all participants to identify user types.
Each template has four sections, as listed in the example below. Remind participants to answer questions from the users perspective, and not their own.
Can include a single-sentence quote to summarize the user persona.
It is important to note demographic data is not considered to add value to personas during this workshop and may lead the team in the wrong direction if included.
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Outcome
At the completion of the user journey mapping persona workshop, it is expected participants will gain insight into the following design artifacts and concepts and opportunities:
User-centric decision making
Designing products for users and journeys instead of features and processes
Potential product opportunities have been identified
Appendix A
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Appendix B
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References
Brignull, Harry. “How to run an Empathy & User Journey Mapping Workshop.” Harry Brignull, 4 Jan. 2016,
https://harrybr.medium.com/how-to-run-an-empathy-user-journey-mapping-workshop-813f3737067#.ep7vgtuu7 .
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Completed user personas for team and stakeholders to reference during the research and design process. Personas can be displayed in a common area or shared repository accessible to all team members
Help team members put themselves in the product users’ position, keeping their needs and goals at the forefront during the development process
Appendix
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References
Falmann, Timea. “3 Useful UX Workshops to Get Your Team on the Same Page.” uxstudio, 14 Aug. 2019, https://uxstudioteam.com/ux-blog/ux-workshop/.
Frick, Tim. “How to Get the Most Out of User Personas.” Mightybytes, 16 Mar. 2021,
https://www.surveysensummightybytes.com/blog/chapter-4-customer-journey-mapping-workshop/ .Kaplan, Kate. how-to-get-the-most-out-of-user-personas/.
Additional Resources
“How to Run a Journey-Mapping Workshop: A Step-by-Step Case Study.” Nielsen Norman Group, 5 Jul. 2020, Personas Workshop.” Medium, 16 Jul. 2017,
https://www.nngroupmedium.com/articles/journey-mapping-workshop/ .
Kaplan, Kate. “Journey Mapping in Real Life: A Survey of UX Practitioners. Nielsen Norman Group, 16 Oct. 2016, https://www.nngroup.com/articles/journey-mapping-ux-practitioners/
Additional Resources
Kaplan, Kate. “The 5 Steps for Successful Customer Journey Mapping.” Nielsen Norman Group, 28 May @unmade.design/how-we-created-our-personas-3337a880e98d. Retrieved 8 Nov. 2021.
Li, Huimin. “A Step-by-Step Guide to Constructing a Persona Workshop.” Mind the Product, 1 Nov. 2017, https://www.nngroupmindtheproduct.com/articles/customer-journey-mapping-processstep-step-guide-constructing-persona-workshop/.Kaplan, Kate. “UX Workshops vs. Meetings: What’s the Difference?”
Nielsen Norman Group, 16 Feb. 2020, “Persona Workshop.” Miro, https://wwwmiro.nngroup.com/articlesmiroverse/workshopspersona-vs-meetingsworkshop/ . Kaplan, Kate. “When and How to Create Customer Journey MapsRetrieved 8 Nov. 2021.
Salazar, Kim. “Why Personas Fail.” Nielsen Norman Group, 31 Jul28 Jan. 20162018,
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/customerwhy-journeypersonas-mappingfail/.