Thanks Ray for the detailed feedback.
I also see the Empathy Map as fitting into a flow of activities and flows, but I see it differently. Rather than seeing the redundancies as extra work, I see them as important inputs and outputs that help provide continuity and flow. I use the Empathy Map in a way that has upstream activities feeding into it and downstream activities that flow out of it. For me that redundancy is important.
For example when we do a WHODO exercise we are talking about the things that are in the goals section of the Empathy Map. When working with stickies it’s easy to copy them over, or remove the sticky-note outputs of a WHODO exercise and place them on the Empathy Map.
This provides continuity between exercises and serves as a reminder of what we did before, this providing a great benefit while taking almost no time at all. A completed Empathy Map then can provide inputs to the Value Proposition Canvas — by moving the pains and gains from the Empathy Map to the VPC, you have clear continuity and a jump-start on that activity.
