Mapping User Journeys
Oh baby, we got sections now:
💡 Alex’s Corner - Life updates from Alex
🧠Product Management Knowledge - Cultivating knowledge about product management
🎯 Job Hunt - Advice on executing the pivot into product
I am constantly iterating on Pivot Into: Product as I figure out what you want to read and what I want to write! (did someone say product market fit? 🤪)
💡 Alex’s Corner
I spent a lot of this week procrastinating on making two product decisions for work 🫣 .
Rest assured, at 3p on Friday, I forced myself to finish these decision documents.
My goal was to create two documents outlining why we should and/or should not develop new features (I wish I could be more specific without putting my job at risk!!). I pulled revenue data from when we released a similar feature. Then, I compiled a list of customers that had expressed interest in these features.
I used these two data points to support my final recommendation.
🧠How to Create a User Journey
Last week, we talked about the As Is / To Be product framework. I included some (very cool 😎 ) graphics mapping out the user journey of a customer of a fast casual restaurant. Let’s walk through building the user journey.
Why do we care?
When building a product, we tend to think about how it will benefit us and our lives. This mindset is a common pitfall of a new product manager.
Product management always goes back to the user. When we build a user journey, we put ourselves in our customer’s shoes. We understand their wants and needs and look for opportunities to make their lives better.
The Pieces
There are five key components to our user journey map: Action, Emotion, Touchpoint, Pain, and Opportunity:
Action - what the user does
Emotion - how the user feels
Pain - issues the customer encounters
Touchpoint - how the user interacts with the product
Opportunity - improvements that can be made
Building the Journey
Thinking back to our fast casual restaurant goer — let’s fill out our journey map. Remember, they are someone who only has 15 minutes to order, wait, and eat their lunch.
And we are done. We have our user journey written out!
🎯 Tips to Improve Your LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a glorified SEO tool. We want to make sure that your LinkedIn is littered with SEO friendly words to make you look like a great product management candidate.
1. Update Your Header to include ‘Product Manager’
If you’re a student or openly looking for your next opportunity, add ‘Aspiring Product Manager’ to your LinkedIn header. Adding ‘Aspiring Product Manager’ will flag your profile when recruiters are looking for product managers to contact for new roles.
2. Update Your Bio
If you are currently working or in a position where you can’t shout from the rooftops that you’re looking for a new job, update your LinkedIn bio to include product management keywords. (40 Keywords a Product Manager Needs on their Resume)
I recommend looking at this LinkedIn page for a great ‘About Me’ template.
3. List All50 ‘Skills’
On LinkedIn, towards the bottom of your profile page, there is a section to add ‘Skills’. Similar to updating your bio, you want to list skills that you have that align with product management.
Here is my recommendation for skills to get you started!
See you next Thursday!
— Alex the PM
