31247 Chap.4 Context Mapping and Process Mapping
Context Mapping and Process Mapping
Two ways to see an experience
Context mapping lets users make artefacts, such as drawings and timelines of their own experience, and then talk about them, which surfaces needs a questionnaire would miss.
Process mapping walks a user’s journey step by step to find waits, handoffs and steps that add no value.
From picture to evidence
Both methods produce material the project can cite: pains and gains in the users’ own words, and measured times for each step of a process.
Either may be used in Assignment 1.
Choosing between them
Use context mapping when the team does not yet understand what users value, and process mapping when the steps of a service are known but it performs badly. Many projects need both: the first to find the pains, the second to measure where in the journey they occur. Either can form part of Assignment 1.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Context mapping as a generative technique
- 02
Sensitising diaries and journey timelines
- 03
Seven stages of a process-mapping exercise
- 04
Four ways to collect journey data
- 05
Flowchart notation
- 06
Value-adding steps and the eight wastes
- 07
Lead time and bottlenecks
Worked example · free
Read a participant’s journey timeline for booking a doctor
- 1The ticks show what the participant values: being seen and having their concern addressed.
- 1The two crosses cluster around getting through to the clinic, which marks the main pain.
- 1The question mark shows confusion at choosing a slot, a step worth exploring in the follow-up conversation.
- 1Together the marks suggest an improvement criterion such as time taken to secure an appointment.
Key terms
- Context Mapping
- A generative research technique in which participants make artefacts about their experience and discuss them.
- Value Stream Mapping
- Mapping a process to separate the steps that add value for the user from those that do not.
- Lead Time
- The total time between the start and the finish of a journey through a process.
- Bottleneck
- A step that slows the overall rate of progress, usually because its capacity is short.
- Handoff
- A point where work or a user passes from one person or team to another.
- Non-Value Step
- A step that changes nothing the user cares about, and so counts as waste.
Context Mapping and Process Mapping FAQ
What is the difference between context mapping and process mapping?
Context mapping explores how people experience a situation, using artefacts they make themselves. Process mapping records the steps of a journey through a service, with times and handoffs, so that waste can be found and removed. The first is about needs; the second is about how a process works.
What are the eight wastes in process mapping?
The process-mapping reading lists defects, overproduction, transportation, waiting, inventory, motion, overprocessing and unused human potential. Each is a kind of step or effort that adds nothing the user values.
How many steps should a process map have?
The reading recommends keeping the map below about sixty steps so it can be analysed, and recording a minimum and a maximum time for each step rather than a single figure.
How should process-mapping data be collected?
The reading compares four methods: a meeting of the people who deliver the service, walking the journey along its normal route, directly observing real users, and asking users to report their own experience. Each has strengths and weaknesses, and combining them is normal.
What is a bottleneck in a process map?
It is any step that slows the overall rate of progress through the journey, usually because capacity there is short. Recording a minimum and a maximum time for each step helps reveal it, because a bottleneck often shows the widest range.
Why does a context-mapping study use a diary first?
The sensitising exercises spread over a few days get participants noticing their own experience before any conversation. When they later explain their drawings and timelines, they can describe moments a single interview would not recall.
Assessment move
Map one journey in your project twice: first as a participant timeline with ticks and crosses, then as a flowchart with times for each step. Count the handoffs, add up the lead time, and mark which steps add value. Ask Sia to check whether each of your decision diamonds has an exit for every answer, then fix the gaps yourself. Keep both maps; the group report’s context analysis will need them again.
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