# Why do people like Journey Maps and User Stories so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Measuring design\ **Created:** [July 30, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139 "2025-07-30T02:06:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/1 "2025-07-30T02:06:03Z")
Question for everyone. It seems that when we post topics related to Journey Mapping and User Stories, our audience eats these posts up. Why do you think that is the case? **Recent post:** > **[How to make journey maps reusable with modular cards | Helio posted on the...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helio_uxresearch-productdiscovery-marketresearch-activity-7355264101507346433-ardz)** > > Turn journey maps into reusable tools with modular cards. > > We like Darren Yeo’s take that journey maps shouldn’t be one-time diagrams. Instead, he suggests using flexible cards that teams can mix and reuse. This approach makes journey maps more... > **[How to improve customer experience with CJMs | Helio posted on the topic |...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helio_uxresearch-productdiscovery-marketresearch-activity-7312133136484601857-GY9o)** > > Follow the customer path to improve their experience. > > We enjoy Dmitry Sergushkin’s article on customer journey maps. It shows what customers do, think, and feel so teams can fix problems and improve the experience. He suggests it builds better... > **[\#uxresearch #productdiscovery #marketresearch #productdesign | Helio | 11...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helio_uxresearch-productdiscovery-marketresearch-activity-7287502415958810624-WxOx)** > > Create a better customer journey by understanding your customers. > > We enjoy Woopra’s article on the importance of tracking customer interactions. Journey metrics help businesses see what’s working and what needs improvement, leading to better,... And User Stories > **[How to deliver value each sprint with vertical stories | Helio posted on the...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helio_uxresearch-productdiscovery-marketresearch-activity-7336033113321480192-AGoR)** > > Deliver testable value each sprint by splitting stories vertically. > > We like David Theil’s argument that breaking big user stories into smaller, vertical slices helps agile teams move faster, get early feedback, and avoid delays. Instead of splitting... > **[\#uxresearch #productdiscovery #marketresearch #productdesign | Helio | 12...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helio_uxresearch-productdiscovery-marketresearch-activity-7285691578193457152-Kp0i)** > > User stories benefit from good writing and UX research. > > We enjoy Roman Pichler’s approach to writing clear and effective user stories. His method focuses on understanding what users need and why, helping agile teams create products that meet user... > **[\#uxresearch #productdiscovery #marketresearch #productdesign | Helio | 16...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helio_uxresearch-productdiscovery-marketresearch-activity-7254878427529256961-lCRo)** > > Job stories help teams understand customer needs. > > We love Jim Kalbach’s article from JTBD Toolkit on job stories, part of the jobs to be done framework. It helps product teams understand customer pain points and design better solutions. He shares an... > **[\#uxresearch #productdiscovery #marketresearch #productdesign | Helio | 12...](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/helio_uxresearch-productdiscovery-marketresearch-activity-7242220805030342656-xTKz?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAAALmwBU147HvXsQ2KaDlBrMFXo2f4BBGw)** > > Focus on customer needs before writing user stories. > > We love that Saeed K. challenges product managers to stop writing user stories prematurely. He argues that user stories are meant to be delivery artifacts for Engineering and UX teams, not tools... ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/2 "2025-07-30T17:48:11Z")
I think it’s because product oriented people, especially on LinkedIn, care about what users think and feel. Both of those tools are good ways to help get a pulse on that. I could be wrong, though 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Helge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea666f/32.png) [@Helge](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Helge)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/3 "2025-07-30T18:56:13Z")
That is an interesting share. 🤩 Always good to see what creates reactions, engagements and what doesn’t. The world is unfortunately (or fortunately) a mystery so hard to say why. One assumption I’d make based only on the few of these I looked at is that they add something little, but valuable to something people already know (e.g. adding the cards to the journey mapping). So it both confirms what they are already doing (e.g. journey maps), sharing the link amplifies this methodology to their network, and it adds something friendly, but creative and interesting to the way of doing it (it’s kind of a snackable good tip). Also of course that within Helio’s extended network journey maps and user stories are big at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 2:00am UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/4 "2025-07-31T02:00:51Z")
I’ve noticed some definite patterns. We’ve published nearly 600 posts, and I’ve written 330 on my account, so I see what tends to connect. I’m bringing up these two examples because, in 30 years of work, I’ve rarely seen well-executed user journeys or user stories that go beyond a single shot artifact. Same goes for user personas. So I’m just curious, why do people gravitate to these methods? ---
**Author:** ![Helge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea666f/32.png) [@Helge](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Helge)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/5 "2025-07-31T16:23:40Z")
Maybe it’s like the old saying: “nobody got fired for buying an IBM”? When we explored the patient treatment pathway (a very common “customer journey”-type model used in the pharmaceutical industry) using externally available research we never found a representation of either the product (the drug) or the pharmaceutical company as a stakeholder. Still, when we were looking at our internal journeys we were all over the place (front, left, right and center). I think consultancies like selling journey’s and personas because people know what they are (which reminds me, do you know who likes these stories? Is it consultants or FTE’s?), they are easy to do and there is a good business model attached to them. I’m as well very critical as I find they frame the perspective too much towards what’s comfortable for the company (that is why the pharmaceutical companies use them), they are very reductionist when it comes to understanding humans and they pretend that the world is linear and what everyone cares about is moving one step further down the conversion trail (which I never found to be true). LinkedIn is weird. A lot of people liking my content don’t even read it, they just want to support. And a lot of people who tell me they really appreciate my content never like it (I assume as they don’t want their own network to see them liking something that might be controversial)? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/6 "2025-07-31T16:51:49Z")
Yeah, agree with your sentiments. It’s comforting to believe something creates value, especially when others say it does too. Most of these methods, like journeys, start with good intentions. But the bigger problem is capturing feedback loops so you can adapt to how users actually behave. Without that, it just becomes an internal exercise to get everyone on the same page, and that alignment fades quickly as things change. It’s one of the reasons we’re arguing for UX metrics. LinkedIn is a launching pad to connections. There’s an opportunity to go deeper if we try! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vivekaleemelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/49beb7/32.png) [@vivekaleemelo](https://forum.zurb.com/u/vivekaleemelo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/7 "2025-08-05T14:27:25Z")
I wonder if some of the interest in user journey content stems from that sense of disastifaction that you two are discussing. People put a lot of resources into journey maps, personas, user stories, and then they don’t see a lot of direct ‘return on investment’. I think people are often hungry for ways to salvage whatever value they can from research artifacts they already have so when you offer them an article like “Create a better customer journey”, their ears perk up. That’s my two cents 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/8 "2025-08-05T15:00:55Z")
So, you’re saying people invest time in creating journey maps and personas, but often don’t see the results… what are they hoping for? ---
**Author:** ![vivekaleemelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/49beb7/32.png) [@vivekaleemelo](https://forum.zurb.com/u/vivekaleemelo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/9 "2025-08-05T18:02:24Z")
I think they’re looking for reassurance–some kind of ‘safety net’ lense that they can use to scrutinize their new projects. To answers questions like “what problems does this component/page/flow/platform actually solve for our customers?” “How will this current intitaitve respond within the greater ecosystem in which our solution lives?” But ecosystems are living things and artifacts are just snapshots. It’s a bit like claiming to know how a person will act because you’ve flipped through their family albums. Seems that these artifacts work best when they’re used as primer for new research–rarely providing stand-alone value. They’re organizational time-savers for establishing context and documenting insights, NOT replacements for further learning. Relying on them as a definitive guide without fresh research is how products become disconnected from their users. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Johnson](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/jake_johnson/32/147_2.png) [@Jake\_Johnson](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Jake_Johnson)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/10 "2025-08-06T17:38:09Z")
People love artifacts, and I’ve found Design, especially, has to continually justify value through process. Artifacts speak to process. Just like in a museum, artifacts are nice to point to and look at. On the usage side of the conversation, I think they don’t get used because what stakeholders value is not the actual map but proof you followed a methodology. I’ve seen so many (like hundreds) of hours spent on creating detailed journey maps. They even surfaced true and significant pain points to address. But none of them were actually addressed because folks who create maps don’t actually own the topography. Those that do are too busy to prioritize. Things get lost in the deep waters of “who’s driving this?” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/11 "2025-08-07T16:58:42Z")
@vivekaleemelo, yeah agree with this: “Seems that these artifacts work best when they’re used as primer for new research–rarely providing stand-alone value” They seem like orientation tools. But beyond that, they seem to fade away. @Jake_Johnson I’m curious if you think it’s follow-through on the method, or… trying to validate results to a leadership team (and also trying to communicate what was done). “I think they don’t get used because what stakeholders value is not the actual map but proof you followed a methodology.” ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Johnson](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/jake_johnson/32/147_2.png) [@Jake\_Johnson](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Jake_Johnson)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/12 "2025-08-07T17:12:08Z")
Yes, in the sense that methodology is often proxy for results. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/13 "2025-08-07T17:26:45Z")
I often find, though, that…_That_… that is the problem. Teams stop there. And leaders don’t push hard enough into the methods… but then maybe it’s a work/culture thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Johnson](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/jake_johnson/32/147_2.png) [@Jake\_Johnson](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Jake_Johnson)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/14 "2025-08-07T17:40:10Z")
I think there’s a lot that goes into it. Multi-faceted like anything else. Lack of knowledge in how to actually apply the learnings, shifting and competing priorities (yesterday’s findings are not today’s fires), perceptions that it’s too slow, lack of clear ownership, waiting for permission, etc. My personal experience is everything inside a corporation is pulling you and teams back to a median of regression and you have to fight really hard to push things forward. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/15 "2025-08-07T17:51:05Z")
> [@Jake\_Johnson](#): > > a median of regression and you have to fight really hard to push things forward. That’s a great way to put it. I say, people are smart, orgs are dumb. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/16 "2025-08-07T17:51:31Z")
You’re having to fight really hard but in what ways? Is that forcing ownership, getting firm buy-in from the right people, or something else? I guess it’s more of a question is how are you fighting to move it forward? Or what drives the most success to get that forward momentum? Genuinely curious! ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Johnson](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/jake_johnson/32/147_2.png) [@Jake\_Johnson](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Jake_Johnson)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/17 "2025-08-07T18:26:57Z")
I’ll take the example of the maps we did at one place I worked. We mapped the entire customer journey from top of funnel to implementation. There were ~100 known pain points identified on those maps. The poor CX owner who did the maps met over and over with functional heads and everyone said yes this is important. But none of it got prioritized. No one actually wanted to own it. That CX owner left. Then the artifact became lost. I spent two years reminding people these things existed. I bet if you mapped that journey again, much of the same ~100 pain points would still be there in one form or another. Orgs want to remove things like program management for “efficiency”, but honestly, that’s the best way to get those types of inputs translated in outputs. ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/18 "2025-08-07T19:08:58Z")
Very interesting. I would think that they might have found it “important,” but for some reason, it wasn’t the “most important”. And sometimes you have to make something the most important, at least for a week (maybe even a day). Trying to look at this from the perspective where I might be one of those team members. OR, I’m wondering if they didn’t know how to baby-step into the problem areas. It sounds like it could’ve also been from Hick’s Law, where they freeze from having to pick which one to do first. ---
**Author:** ![EricZ](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ericz/32/692_2.png) [@EricZ](https://forum.zurb.com/u/EricZ)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/19 "2025-08-07T21:33:44Z")
Based on the conversation, I’d argue Journey Maps are popular for three reasons: - **A Learning Deliverable** - Journey Maps are a great way for teams to learn across silos in a user focused way. The design artifact shows the design team was productive. - **Alignment with Teams** - What you learn you convey to the rest of the internal team, and that alignment on the understanding of the customer journey is its own reward. - **Never Get It Right** - Everyone has a constant feeling that they’ve done the thing wrong, and there are better ways to approach it. To @Jake_Johnson‘s point, the issue is more likely to be program management than the method itself. ---
**Author:** ![MoData](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/modata/32/1182_2.png) [@MoData](https://forum.zurb.com/u/MoData)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/why-do-people-like-journey-maps-and-user-stories-so-much/139/20 "2025-08-07T21:58:59Z")
That’s rough! 100 pain points is a big thing for someone to take ownership of, so I feel like people are less likely to own the whole flow and more likely to tackle individual pain points. That’s why it’s so important to have PMs, to keep track of that whole user journey and ensure the issues are systematically taken care of. But so often that attention to the whole user journey lives and dies with the PM who picked up the torch in the first place.