Behavioral Mapping Templates & Guidance
journey mapping | thought leadership | teaching
In 2021, I completed a Design Fellowship with the Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES) within the General Services Administration (GSA). I worked with the team to introduce behavioral mapping into their behavioral intervention design process. I developed behavioral map templates and authored guidance for their team to use during their regular work.
The Challenge: The Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES) designs behavioral interventions to evaluate for effectiveness in improving policy implementation or government service uptake. They asked how they might incorporate journey mapping and similar design methods into their intervention design process.
I outlined a “core behavioral map” with 5 recommended layers for any OES project. This includes layers for “behavioral bottlenecks” and “proposed interventions” - two elements that set OES behavioral maps apart from the typical journey map or service blueprint.
I participated in mapping efforts on several projects while working on the guidance as a means of real-time prototyping and gathering feedback.
I also drafted a Guide to Behavioral Mapping & Discovery to help OES team members confidently integrate behavioral mapping and complementary discovery activities into their process.
OES is a cross-disciplinary team with a constant rotation of academic fellows so the audience for this guide would have a wide range in terms of their familiarity with mapping and discovery activities.
The guide begins with a concise explanation of what it will help you do and how that will translate to improved project outcomes.
In addition, I explain 3 ways that mapping will improve communication during the course of a project.
In addition to the 5 “core” layers, the guide also provides a menu of additional layers that may be considered when relevant to help inform behavioral intervention design.
I also created a one page chart with simple Yes/No questions that helps identify layers you might want to consider.
