Overview
You can't fix what you can't see. Most teams have a rough sense of what their users do, but when you actually map the journey end to end, every touchpoint, every handoff, every moment of friction or delight, the gaps become obvious. And they're rarely where you expected.
I lead hands-on journey mapping sessions that get your team aligned around what users actually experience, not what your org chart says they should experience. My psychology background and research work across healthcare, defense, and enterprise mean I see what users feel, not just what they report. I've mapped journeys in regulated environments where a bad experience isn't just annoying. It's a compliance risk or a patient safety concern.
The output isn't a pretty poster. It's a shared understanding of where your product works, where it breaks, and what to fix first.
Who this is for
This works well when you're:
- A product team that suspects users are dropping off but can't pinpoint where or why
- A cross-functional group (product, design, engineering, support) that has different mental models of the user experience
- A team launching a new feature and needing to understand how it fits into the existing flow
- An organization dealing with high support volume and wanting to find the root friction points
- A product leader preparing for a redesign and needing evidence to prioritize what changes first
If you need ongoing user research beyond the mapping exercise, UX Research & Synthesis is a natural follow-up. Journey mapping gives you the map; research fills in the details.
What you get
- Journey map artifact. A visual map of the user's end-to-end experience, organized by stages, touchpoints, emotions, and pain points. Clear enough to share with leadership, detailed enough to inform design decisions.
- Facilitated mapping session. A 2-3 hour working session with your team where we build the map together. I facilitate so everyone contributes (design, engineering, support, and product) rather than one voice dominating.
- Prioritized opportunity list. A ranked set of friction points and opportunities with recommendations for what to address first, based on user impact and effort.
Typical engagement
- Duration: 1-2 weeks
- Commitment: 6-10 hours total (prep, session, synthesis)
- Format: Remote facilitation with async follow-up and a written summary
Frequently asked questions
Impact in practice
Measured outcomes from engagements like this one
Carina
A state-ready advocacy deck. A Medicaid-aligned feature roadmap. New language and filters shaping how caregivers post jobs and define availability on the platform.
WeWork
Consistent global add-on offerings enabled for the first time. Net-new revenue unlocked with minimal development overhead. Community Manager time on manual fulfillment tasks significantly reduced.
Mr. Cooper
Redesigned agent desktop reduced document review time and improved HUD submission accuracy. Specialist workflows streamlined from manual tracking to a priority-driven queue system.
Related work
Case studies from engagements like this one
Carina
Designing for Caregiver Rest: Building the Strategy Behind Carina's Medicaid Respite Care Expansion
A state-ready advocacy deck. A Medicaid-aligned feature roadmap. New language and filters shaping how caregivers post jobs and define availability on the platform.
WeWork
Member Add-Ons Platform for WeWork Locations
Consistent global add-on offerings enabled for the first time. Net-new revenue unlocked with minimal development overhead. Community Manager time on manual fulfillment tasks significantly reduced.
Mr. Cooper
Agent Desktop Redesign for Mr. Cooper's Mortgage Servicing Team
Redesigned agent desktop reduced document review time and improved HUD submission accuracy. Specialist workflows streamlined from manual tracking to a priority-driven queue system.
What clients say
FrankProduct Designer, U.S. Air Force“When I met Kate, I didn't know what it took to create a product. She trained and led our team that had ZERO experience: she guided us through a Discovery process, planning and design workshops, helped us outline an MVP - and we delivered the first usable product in under 120 days. Kate showed a true passion for building useful software and a knack for facilitating any group meeting. Three years later, she's one of the best PMs I've been fortunate to work with - she directly contributed to my growth as a Product Designer.”
From the playbook
Practices I use with teams during this type of engagement
Try it yourself
Free tools related to this service
Related writing
Posts that go deeper on this topic
First-Time UX, and Why It Will Always Matter
What a 2015 SXSW talk taught me about trust, clarity, and designing for the very first moment someone meets your product.
Journey Maps That Actually Change Decisions
Most journey maps end up as posters nobody looks at. The difference between a decorative artifact and one that changes product decisions comes down to three things: who's in the room, what you map, and what you do with it afterward.
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