the brief — the journey (feature path)
The Journey
Phases are columns — each named as a human activity with a clear start and end. Friction (⚠) means harder than it should be. Broken (✗) means it fails or is replaced by a workaround — this column is a candidate Epic. Five rows: Needs, Does, Says, Thinks, Feels. Write Needs last — it should emerge from the evidence, not precede it.
| Opens results | Calculates ⚠ | Enters and marks ✗ | Submits | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Needs | All 28 visible | MCQ totals without arithmetic | Mark without switching | Confirmation received |
| Does | Opens export, tab 1 | Opens grade sheet tab 2. Calculates mentally, types totals. | Types open-answer scores. Switches tabs per student. Rechecks. | Emails spreadsheet as attachment |
| Says | — | "This is just how it works" | "I always make mistakes on the last few" | "I never know if they got it" |
| Thinks | This will take all afternoon | I should be reading, not calculating | One wrong total breaks the submission. Running out of focus. | I'll check email tomorrow |
| Feels | Resigned | Frustrated — mechanical, not teaching | Anxious — error-prone, depleted | Uncertain — no closure |
The broken column — Enters and marks — is where the Epic comes from. The friction column — Calculates — is where the secondary Epic lives.
How to apply this
- ✓ Name columns as activities, not system states. "Calculates scores" (what Gal does) not "Grade entry screen" (what the system shows). Columns match how the person describes their own day.
- ✓ Use verbatim quotes in Says. "She said it was frustrating" is not the same as "I always make mistakes on the last few." The specific words reveal the specific experience.
- ✓ Does Thinks contain something that surprised the observer? If it is obvious or generic, it was invented, not inferred. Write Needs last — it should emerge from the evidence.
- ✗ Do not mark every column as friction or broken. If everything is marked, nothing is prioritised. Mark what was genuinely witnessed as a problem.