AIWorkDex
Customer Research Practice

Reconstruct a recent customer workflow

Turn one recent customer example into a start-to-finish workflow with difficult moments and workarounds visible.

Preparation
One interview round plus evidence review
Difficulty
Moderate
Task
Map the current customer workflow
Back to the Task: Map the current customer workflow

Before you start

Get what you need before you start

  • Choose the customer job and a recent instance to reconstruct.
  • Prepare participant codes and an approved evidence register.

Steps

Work through the method

Use the listed inputs and tools. Check the evidence when you need to verify a step.

  1. Select one recent instance

    Ask the participant to choose a completed or attempted example they can reconstruct.

    Why it matters: A specific instance limits speculation about typical behaviour.

    Input
    The target customer job.
    Output
    A dated or bounded example.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Sheets

    Evidence for this step

  2. Trace the sequence

    Walk from the trigger to the final outcome and record each action in order.

    Why it matters: The full sequence shows work around the proposed solution.

    Input
    The recent example.
    Output
    An ordered action list.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Sheets

    Evidence for this step

  3. Record tools and hand-offs

    For each action, record the tool, person, information, and hand-off involved.

    Why it matters: Tools and hand-offs reveal dependencies within the current workflow.

    Input
    The ordered action list.
    Output
    A workflow table with dependencies.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Sheets

    Evidence for this step

  4. Find the difficult moments

    Ask which step took the most effort, caused delay, introduced risk, or required rework.

    Why it matters: The difficult moment must come from the participant’s account.

    Input
    The workflow table.
    Output
    Evidence-linked difficult moments.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Sheets

    Evidence for this step

  5. Capture the workaround

    Record what the participant does today and why that option remains acceptable or necessary.

    Why it matters: The current workaround shows the existing alternative and its constraints.

    Input
    The difficult moments.
    Output
    A current-workaround record.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Sheets

    Evidence for this step

  6. Compare without erasing differences

    Align common steps across interviews and retain exceptions, missing steps, and contrary cases.

    Why it matters: A shared pattern should remain traceable to individual evidence.

    Input
    Several coded workflow tables.
    Output
    A comparison with common and divergent steps.
    Tools in this stepGoogle Sheets

    Evidence for this step

Success checks

Check the result before you finish

  • Every step comes from a recent participant example.
  • Difficult moments and workarounds link to source evidence.
  • Differences between workflows remain visible.

Failure modes

Watch for these problems

  • Return to the interview when the workflow contains guessed steps.
  • Separate the maps when distinct segments use materially different workflows.
  • Do not let an automatic transcript summary replace source checking.

Tools

Choose the tools you need

Sources

Read the sources behind this practice

Check what each source supports and where the advice has limits.