Research

Future State Journey Mapping

You've diagnosed experience problems. Now, envision the ideal experience. Future State Journey Mapping details the improved customer journey. It shows touchpoints, emotions, and outcomes after addressing pain points. This 90-minute exercise turns improvements into a cohesive vision. Teams align on 'good' before building. This works best after identifying pain points, but before detailed design. It's valuable when teams coordinate improvements or when making the case for experience investments. The magic happens when teams realize solving individual problems isn't enough. The future state must be intentionally designed. Reality check: balance aspiration with feasibility. Too ambitious becomes fantasy. Too conservative doesn't inspire. The facilitator balances that tension. Expect creative energy and grounding discussions. The 90-minute duration enables both. You'll know it's working when teams identify dependencies and sequence improvements.

Duration
1.5 hours
Group Size
10-16
Category
Research
Difficulty
Easy
Create a detailed future state journey map. Show each journey phase after improvements. Include touchpoints, interactions, emotions, and outcomes. Identify changes needed to enable the future state. Consider new capabilities, processes, technology, and organization. Translate the vision into requirements. Sequence improvements into a realistic roadmap. Show what can be done in 3, 6, and 12 months. Recognize dependencies. Build progressively toward the full vision. Create stakeholder alignment on the target experience. Make the future state concrete enough for reaction, debate, and commitment.
Designed future state customer journey. Clear vision of improved experience. Gap analysis between current and desired state.
Before the session, set the right aspiration level with sponsors. Be ambitious, but credible. Pre-identify constraints (budget, timeline, technology) to focus visioning. Have inspiration examples ready. During facilitation, balance 'blue sky' thinking with feasibility. Encourage bold ideas early. Introduce reality checks later. Prevent perfectionism: achievable is better than perfect. Watch for internal focus: bring discussion back to customer experience. Warning signs: Future state looks like the current state (not ambitious). Future state requires massive change (not achievable). No connection to pain points (solving wrong problems). Teams can't articulate enablers (vision without substance). Success indicators: Compelling future state, clear enablers, realistic roadmap, stakeholder commitment, quick wins. After the session, document the future state journey. Create an implementation roadmap with owners and timelines. Brief engineering/operations teams. Use the future state as a north star.

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