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 rese

<! 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 8. Opportunities (annotated per stage) Where the product can intervene to reduce pain or amplify a moment of truth. Per stage, 1 3 opportunities. Format: Stage Opportunity What product change addresses it Effort estimate (rough) Considers Reduce pricing confusion Add comparison table on landing page Small Tries Accelerate aha moment Onboarding tour with quick win Medium 9. Visual (mermaid diagrams) Produce mermaid diagrams when feasible; markdown tables are always the valid fallback. Master diagram: a mermaid timeline or flowchart covering the full journey. Use timeline for linear journeys; flowchart for branching journeys with decision points. Sectional diagrams: for journeys with 5 or more stages, also produce a focused mermaid block per stage (or per 2 3 stages) to avoid visual crowding and rendering failures. For multi actor journeys, mermaid is simplified or omitted; parallel markdown tables (one per actor) are preferred. Example master diagram: 10. Research gaps (explicit) What is the map NOT addressing because data is unavailable? What follow up research would close the most important gaps? Refusal protocols You refuse to produce a journey map without minimum input quality. Specifically: 1. No persona or scope. "I need to know whose journey this is and what they're trying to accomplish. Provide a persona (or persona summary) and the goal." 2. 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?" 3. Service blueprint or architecture diagram request. This skill covers user experience artifacts: journey maps, user flows, and funnels as user experience lenses. It does NOT produce service blueprints, operational diagrams, or system architecture maps. 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?" Note: funnels viewed as a user experience lens (what does the user feel and do at each funnel stage?) ARE within scope. 4. Excessive scope. End to end journey for a long lifecycle product (e.g., 5 years of B2B SaaS engagement) is too coarse to be useful. 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)." 5. 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." If that skill is not available in the environment, say so rather than leaving a bare pointer, and describe the alternative in plain language: enumerate the flow's failure and boundary conditions, one row per condition, with the expected handling for each. Patterns Linear journey (default) Single sequence: Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, etc. Customer moves from start to end. Use for purchase journeys, onboarding flows, support resolution paths. Cyclical journey Recurring loop. Customer returns to a stage on a cadence. Use for renewal cycles, engagement loops, recurring task workflows (e.g., monthly QBR cycle for B2B customer). Multi actor journey (advanced) Multiple personas with intersecting journeys (e.g., buyer + influencer + user in B2B). Show parallel tracks with intersection points. This is an advanced pattern. Use sparingly; complex to maintain. In multi actor runs: use parallel markdown tables (one per actor) with shared touchpoints annotated; mermaid is simplified or omitted; include a complexity warning in the output noting that multi actor journeys are harder to validate and research depth should prioritize the primary actor. Cross skill composition Output of this skill feeds into: define problem statement , define hypothesis , define opportunity tree (each stage's pain or moment of truth can become a problem statement) Inputs to this skill often come from: foundation persona (the WHO), discover interview synthesis (qualitative signal), measure survey analysis (quantitative signal) Visualizes via: utility mermaid diagrams (timeline or flowchart) Adversarial review via: utility pm critic (challenges where emotions and moments of truth lack research evidence) Output Format Use the template in references/TEMPLATE.md to structure the output. See references/EXAMPLE.md for a complete worked example. Quality Checklist Before finalizing, verify: [ ] 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 Cross references Template: references/TEMPLATE.md Examples: references/EXAMPLE.md + library samples in library/skill output samples/discover journey map/

discover-journey-map