# Lesson 5: The Visual Trigger Map

**Your One-Page Strategic Document**

---

## What Is the Trigger Map?

The Trigger Map is a visual diagram that shows the strategic connections between:

- **Business Goals** (center) - What you need to achieve
- **Target Groups** (radiating out) - Who can help you achieve it
- **Usage Goals** (connected to each group) - What drives their behavior

**It's a one-page strategy document that everyone can understand.**

---

## Why Visual Matters

### The Problem with Text Documents

Traditional strategy documents:
- 20+ pages of text
- Nobody reads them completely
- Hard to see connections
- Difficult to reference quickly
- Become outdated and ignored

### The Power of Visual

A Trigger Map:
- ✅ One page, scannable in 30 seconds
- ✅ Shows strategic connections visually
- ✅ Easy to reference during design
- ✅ Stakeholders understand immediately
- ✅ Stays relevant as features evolve

**Visual = Accessible = Actually Used**

---

## The Structure

**The Trigger Map flows horizontally from left to right in four layers:**

### Layer 1: Business Goals (Left)

**What it shows:**
- Vision statement(s) - inspirational direction
- 3-5 SMART objectives - measurable targets
- Multiple goals can feed into the product

**Visual cues:**
- Blue boxes on the left
- Clear hierarchy of goals
- All connect to the product/solution

### Layer 2: Product/Solution (Center)

**What it shows:**
- Product name
- Brief description of what it does
- Central hub of the map

**Why it's central:**
- Connects business goals to users
- Shows what you're building
- Everything flows through here

### Layer 3: Target Groups (Middle-Right)

**What it shows:**
- 3-5 prioritized personas
- Priority indicators (👥 primary, 👤 secondary)
- Connected from the product

**Visual cues:**
- Orange boxes
- Emoji indicators show priority
- Lines connect from product to each group

### Layer 4: Usage Goals (Right)

**What it shows:**
- **Positive drivers** (✅ green) - What they want to achieve
- **Negative drivers** (❌ red) - What they want to avoid
- Separated into distinct boxes per target group

**Visual organization:**
- Green boxes for positive drivers
- Red boxes for negative drivers
- Each target group has both types
- Top drivers emphasized

---

## Generic Example Structure

```
GOALS                  PRODUCT              TARGET GROUPS        DRIVERS
─────────────────────  ───────────────────  ───────────────────  ────────────────────
[BUSINESS GOAL 1]      [PRODUCT/            [👥 PRIMARY          [✅ POSITIVE]
Vision Statement 1  ──→ SOLUTION    ──────→ TARGET GROUP]   ───→ • Positive Goal 1
Strategic Obj 1-3      Name &               Brief profile        • Positive Goal 2
                       Description                │              
[BUSINESS GOAL 2]                                 │              [❌ NEGATIVE]
Vision Statement 2  ──→                           └─────────────→ • Negative Goal 1
Strategic Obj 1-3                                                 • Negative Goal 2
                                                                  
                                                                  
                                            [👤 SECONDARY         [✅ POSITIVE]
                                    ────→   TARGET GROUP]  ─────→ • Positive Goal 1
                                            Brief profile         • Positive Goal 2
                                                  │              
                                                  │              [❌ NEGATIVE]
                                                  └─────────────→ • Negative Goal 1
                                                                  • Negative Goal 2
```

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## How to Read the Map

### Following the Strategic Chain

**Start at center:**
"We want to achieve [business goal]"

**Move to groups:**
"[Target group] can help us achieve this"

**Look at drivers:**
"They're motivated by [positive drivers] and avoiding [negative drivers]"

**Design implication:**
"So we should build features that address their top drivers"

### Generic Example Walkthrough

**Center:** "Achieve 10,000 active users by Q4"

**Group 1:** "Remote team leads" (Priority #1)

**Top positive driver:** "Want to demonstrate effective leadership"

**Top negative driver:** "Fear team burnout without noticing"

**Design insight:** "Build features that help leaders monitor team health and take action - this serves both their drivers AND our user growth goal"

---

## What Makes a Good Trigger Map

### Clarity

**Good:**
- Clear hierarchy (what's most important)
- Specific drivers (not generic wants)
- Visual connections obvious
- Scannable in under a minute

**Bad:**
- Everything seems equal priority
- Vague statements
- Cluttered with too much detail
- Requires explanation to understand

### Actionability

**Good:**
- Designers can reference it for decisions
- Clear which drivers to address first
- Obvious connections to features
- Guides prioritization

**Bad:**
- Too abstract to guide design
- No clear priorities
- Doesn't connect to actual features
- Purely theoretical

### Longevity

**Good:**
- Focuses on strategy, not features
- Stays relevant as product evolves
- Updated only when strategy changes
- Long-term reference document

**Bad:**
- Includes specific features (becomes outdated)
- Needs constant updating
- Tied to current implementation
- Becomes obsolete quickly

---

## How Teams Use the Trigger Map

### Designers

**Use it to:**
- Guide every design decision
- Validate feature ideas
- Prioritize design work
- Explain design rationale

**Example:**
"Should we add this feature? Let me check the Trigger Map... Yes, it addresses the top negative driver for our #1 target group."

### Developers

**Use it to:**
- Understand the "why" behind features
- Make implementation trade-offs
- Suggest technical alternatives
- Stay aligned with strategy

**Example:**
"This technical approach would be faster but wouldn't address the key driver. Let's find a solution that serves the strategy."

### Product Managers

**Use it to:**
- Prioritize roadmap
- Evaluate feature requests
- Communicate strategy
- Make scope decisions

**Example:**
"This stakeholder request doesn't connect to any of our top drivers. Let's deprioritize it."

### Stakeholders

**Use it to:**
- Understand strategic direction
- See how decisions connect to goals
- Provide informed feedback
- Trust the process

**Example:**
"I can see how this feature addresses the fear of [negative driver] for our top group. That makes sense."

---

## Creating Your Map

### Tools

**Simple options:**
- Pen and paper (sketch it first)
- Whiteboard (team workshops)
- Miro or FigJam (digital collaboration)
- Markdown with indentation (text-based)

**What matters:**
- Visual hierarchy is clear
- Connections are obvious
- Easy to reference
- Team can access it

### Process

**During Workshop 2-4:**
- Saga helps you build it iteratively
- Start with goals
- Add groups
- Add drivers
- Refine and prioritize

**After workshops:**
- Create clean visual version
- Share with team
- Post where everyone can see
- Reference in all design discussions

---

## Keeping It Current

### When to Update

**Update when:**
- ✅ Business goals change significantly
- ✅ New user research reveals different drivers
- ✅ Strategic priorities shift
- ✅ New target group becomes important

**Don't update when:**
- ❌ Features change (map is strategy, not features)
- ❌ Minor tweaks to objectives
- ❌ Tactical decisions
- ❌ Short-term experiments

### Living Document Approach

**The map should:**
- Be referenced weekly in design discussions
- Be updated quarterly (or when strategy shifts)
- Be visible to entire team
- Be the source of truth for strategic decisions

**It should NOT:**
- Be created once and forgotten
- Be updated constantly
- Include implementation details
- Replace other documentation

---

## The Power of One Page

### Why One Page Matters

**Cognitive load:**
- Humans can't hold complex strategy in working memory
- One page = graspable at a glance
- Visual connections = easier to remember

**Accessibility:**
- Everyone can understand it
- No special training needed
- Quick reference during meetings
- Easy to share

**Alignment:**
- Entire team sees same picture
- Reduces misunderstandings
- Creates shared language
- Builds strategic consensus

---

## Common Mistakes

### Mistake 1: Too Much Detail

**Problem:** Map becomes cluttered and unusable  
**Solution:** Keep it strategic - details go in supporting docs

### Mistake 2: Including Features

**Problem:** Map becomes outdated as features change  
**Solution:** Features are scored separately (Workshop 5)

### Mistake 3: No Visual Hierarchy

**Problem:** Everything seems equally important  
**Solution:** Use size, color, position to show priority

### Mistake 4: Creating It Once and Forgetting

**Problem:** Map doesn't guide actual decisions  
**Solution:** Reference it constantly, update when strategy shifts

### Mistake 5: Making It Too Pretty

**Problem:** Spending hours on design instead of strategy  
**Solution:** Clarity > beauty. Sketch is fine.

---

## The Strategic Conversation

The real value isn't the map itself - it's the strategic conversation that creates it.

**The map is:**
- A record of strategic thinking
- A tool for alignment
- A guide for decisions
- A living reference

**The conversation is:**
- Where insights emerge
- Where assumptions are challenged
- Where priorities become clear
- Where strategy is forged

**Both matter. The map captures the conversation so you don't lose it.**

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## What You'll Learn Next

The final lesson covers Feature Impact Scoring - how to systematically evaluate and rank features based on your Trigger Map. This is where strategy becomes actionable roadmap.

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## Key Takeaways

✅ **One-page visual document** - Scannable, accessible, actually used  
✅ **Shows strategic connections** - Goals → Groups → Drivers  
✅ **Guides all design decisions** - Reference it constantly  
✅ **Stays relevant** - Focuses on strategy, not features  
✅ **Creates team alignment** - Everyone sees same strategic picture  
✅ **Living document** - Update when strategy shifts, not when features change

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## Reflection Questions

1. How would having a one-page strategy map change your design process?
2. What strategic decisions could you make faster with this reference?
3. How would this help align your team around priorities?

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[← Back to Lesson 9](lesson-09-positive-negative-drivers.md) | [Next: Lesson 11 - Feature Impact Scoring →](lesson-11-feature-impact-scoring.md)

*Part of Module 05: Trigger Mapping*
