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Deliverable: Trigger Map & Personas

Connect business goals to user psychology - design with insight, not guesswork

About WDS & the Trigger Map

WDS (Whiteport Design Studio) is an AI agent framework module within the BMAD Method that transforms how designers work. Instead of creating documentation that gets lost in translation, your design work becomes powerful prompts that guide AI agents and development teams with precision and intent.

The Trigger Map bridges strategy and design. It connects what your business wants to achieve with what motivates (and frustrates) your users. This becomes the psychological foundation for every design decision you make.

What Is This Deliverable?

The Trigger Map is a strategic framework that connects:

Business Goals: What the company wants to achieve
User Psychology: What motivates and frustrates your users
Personas: Detailed profiles of key user groups
Feature Priorities: Which features move the needle on both

Created by: Cascade the Strategist
When: Phase 3 - After Product Brief, before design begins
Format: Visual map + detailed persona documents

Why This Matters

Without Trigger Mapping:

❌ You guess at user needs based on assumptions
❌ Features get prioritized by "coolness" not impact
❌ Design feels generic and disconnected
❌ No psychological foundation for UX decisions

With Trigger Mapping:

✅ Design decisions grounded in user psychology
✅ Clear feature prioritization based on impact
✅ Personas with depth (not demographic stereotypes)
✅ Connection between what users need and what business wants

What's Included

1. Business Goals

SMART objectives with measurable targets
Priority ranking (what matters most?)
Connection to product strategy

2. Driving Forces

Positive Forces: What motivates users (aspirations, gains, desires)
Negative Forces: What frustrates users (pain points, fears, obstacles)
Emotional and practical triggers for each persona

3. Personas

Detailed profiles for each key user group:

Background & context
Current situation & pain points
Goals & aspirations
Fears & frustrations
Motivations & values
Tech savviness & preferences

4. Feature Impact Analysis

How each feature affects persona driving forces
Impact on business goals
Priority matrix (High/Medium/Low impact)

5. Key Insights

Strategic recommendations
Design principles derived from psychology
"Aha!" moments from the mapping process

The Dialog with Your Strategy Partner: Cascade the Strategist

The Process (2-3 hours across multiple sessions):

Cascade the Strategist guides you through mapping the psychology:

Cascade the Strategist: "Let's map the driving forces. Who's your primary user?"

You: "Freelance designers managing client projects."

Cascade the Strategist: "Perfect. What keeps them up at night? What are they afraid of?"

You: "Missing deadlines, looking unprofessional, losing clients because 
      of poor communication."

Cascade the Strategist: "Strong negative forces. Now, what do they aspire to?"

You: "Being seen as organized and reliable. Growing their business. 
      Working with better clients."

Cascade the Strategist: "Excellent! Now, which features address those fears 
                         AND enable those aspirations?"

As you work together, Cascade the Strategist creates:

✅ Business goal hierarchy
✅ Detailed personas with psychology
✅ Positive/negative driving forces
✅ Feature impact matrix
✅ Strategic insights

Then you review together:

Cascade the Strategist: "Here's your Trigger Map. Does this capture the psychology?"

You: "Yes! But automated reminders should be higher priority - 
      it hits fear of missing deadlines."

Cascade the Strategist: "Updated! ✅ Trigger Map is complete."

Result: Trigger Map saved to /docs/2-trigger-map/

Example

See the WDS Presentation Project - Trigger Map

Agent Activation

To start creating your Trigger Map:

@cascade I need to create a Trigger Map for [Your Project Name].

Cascade the Strategist will begin the conversation and guide you through the process.

How to Create This

Hands-on Tutorial: Module 04: Trigger Mapping

Workflow Reference: Trigger Mapping Workflow

Getting Started with WDS

New to WDS? Install the complete AI agent framework to unlock all capabilities:

👉 Install WDS & Get Started

Previous Deliverable: Product Brief
Next Deliverable: Platform PRD & Architecture

4.8 KiB Raw Blame History