Creating a multi-stakeholder journey using step links
In this article, we'll explain the power of step links and how you can use them to create multi-stakeholder journeys and link intersecting steps together.
At some point you might find yourself wanting to map a journey from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. Trying to fit all of these perspectives into one journey can be overly complex, since many steps, pains, and gains are often different.
As an example, let’s consider a train ride where we want to map both the journey of the train traveler, as well as the ticket inspector. The only intersection they have is when the ticket inspector checks the traveler’s ticket; all other steps, and their individual experiences, are completely different otherwise. So how do we map this?
Using step links to link intersecting steps
To map journeys from the perspective of multiple stakeholders, we recommend the following approach:
● Map the journey of each stakeholder separately.
● Create a step link lane in each stakeholder journey, and link to the intersecting step in the other stakeholder’s journey.
So for the example above, create a separate journey for the train traveler, and another separate journey for the ticket inspector. Create a step link lane in both of these journeys. Then, at the ‘getting my ticket inspected’ step in the traveler journey, create a step link to the ‘inspecting a train ticket’ step in the ticket inspector’s journey, and vica versa.
Switching between different stakeholders’ perspectives
After creating these step links, you can quickly switch between the different journeys by clicking on the step link to go back and forth. This gives you a clear perspective of the same step, as seen from the different stakeholder’s perspectives. You can link even more stakeholder’s journey steps this way, since you can create as many step links as you want per step or journey. Happy connecting!