Current-state maps

Current-state customer journey maps document how users actually experience your product today, including all friction points and workarounds. They capture real behaviors, not intended flows. Key elements include actual user paths, pain points, error states, drop-off points, and unplanned interactions.

These maps often reveal surprising truths about user behavior. They show where users get stuck, create workarounds, or abandon tasks entirely. Current-state maps can include metrics like completion rates, time on task, and error frequency to quantify problems.

Creating accurate current-state maps requires real user data from analytics, support tickets, and user research. They serve as baselines for measuring improvement and help teams prioritize fixes based on actual user impact rather than assumptions.^[1]