Mapping Experiences, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 9. Activate: Driving Momentum and Impact

If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.

—Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Ideas are overrated
• Mapping future experience
• Planning experiments
• Collaborative methods for activation

Throughout this book, I’ve urged you to empathize with the people you serve. The key is to view your offering from the outside in rather than the inside out. Strive to build that empathy as a team before conceiving new solutions.

I’ve experienced firsthand the trap of rushing into solutions. At one company I worked for, a small team spent two months behind closed doors developing a concept that helped people plan events, without any contact with potential customers. Anyone who did interact closely with the target could immediately see that the solution had serious flaws. It didn’t address real needs or align with users’ mental models. Despite the team’s passion, its fully fledged product concept was doomed from the outset. The team could have spent its time more wisely by better investigating the problem first.

Note that I’m not advocating weeks or months of up-front research, which could be perceived as slowing things down. But as the previous chapters have demonstrated, the mapping process helps teams develop a common understanding of an individual’s experience and accurately frame the problem. Once you’ve gained empathy and identified the right opportunities to target, you’re ready to design ...