In Episode 6, we tackle the critical "so what?" question. You've mapped the experience and verified insights. Now, how do you turn that work into tangible business results?

Answering the "so what?" with action

Up to this point, you have a documentation map. It shows what's happening, but not what to do about it.

Opportunities and solutions are the building blocks that transform journeys from documentation into decision-making tools. They enable you to:

• Prioritize where to invest time and resources for maximum ROI

• Connect customer insights to strategic business objectives

• Track progress from problem identification to implementation

• Engage cross-functional teams with clear, actionable direction

This isn't about customer empathy alone. It's about helping organizations make profitable decisions on resource allocation.

Part 1: Understanding opportunities

Opportunities are problem statements derived from insights, reframed positively to guide solution discovery. They sit at the critical junction between understanding problems and implementing solutions.

Why separate opportunities from solutions?

The triple diamond framework explains the separation:

• First Diamond:
  Problem Discovery → Output = Opportunities

• Second Diamond:
  Solution Discovery → Multiple solutions

• Third Diamond:
  Solution Delivery → Implementation

Jumping straight from insight to solution often means solving the wrong problem. By defining opportunities first, you:

• Explore multiple solution approaches instead of fixating on one

• Ensure you're addressing root causes, not just symptoms

• Create space for better ideas to emerge

A practical example: The mutual fit problem

Marc's Circle community showed high cancellation rates. The highest-scored insight? Members canceled due to time constraints, workload changes, and personal circumstances, not service quality issues.

Reactive solution-jumping:

"Make membership cheaper" or "Improve video quality."

Opportunity-first approach:

"How might we find out if there is a mutual fit between the community and prospective members?"

This opportunity opens different solution possibilities:

• Qualification calls with prospects

• Community guideline emails setting expectations

• Trial periods to test fit

• Self-assessment tools

By understanding the root problem (mutual fit, not price or quality), solutions become targeted and effective.

Part 2: Creating meaningful opportunities

Bottom-up: From insights to opportunities

Opportunities should synthesize patterns across multiple insights, not just rephrase single pain points.

How AI accelerates this:

In TheyDo, opportunity review analyzes insights from journey steps and suggests opportunity statements. 

AI:

• Summarizes problems from multiple angles

• Links automatically to supporting insights

• Provides starting points for team discussions

Best practice: Don't limit analysis to single steps. The most valuable opportunities emerge from looking across:

• Multiple journey steps

• Different journeys

• Workshop discussions with cross-functional teams

Top-down: Validating against strategy

Opportunities from research must align with organizational goals, annual strategic plans, quarterly priorities, and OKRs.

Your validation process:

1. Identify opportunities from research (bottom-up)

2. Validate against strategic goals (top-down)

3. Surface gaps where customer data reveals unaddressed problems

When research shows major issues not covered in strategic goals, you have a data-driven rationale to inform strategy, transforming CX from order-taker to strategic contributor.

What makes a meaningful opportunity?

Effective opportunities:

• Synthesize multiple insights

• Don't prescribe specific technology or solutions

• Are specific enough to guide action, broad enough for multiple approaches

• Connect to measurable customer and business impacts

Common pitfalls:

• Too high-level: "How might we provide more value?" (too vague—everything connects)

• Too solution-focused: "How might we use AI to improve engagement?" (prescribes technology first)

• Too narrow: Simply rephrasing one pain point (misses broader context)

Framework guidance: "How might we..." works well, but don't be dogmatic about format. Principles matter more than exact wording.

Part 3: Implementing solutions

Solutions turn opportunity understanding into concrete action. But not all solutions look the same.

Understanding solution types

Solutions fall into different types, each owned by different teams:

• Digital solutions: Features, screens, apps, interfaces

• Process solutions: Workflows, operational procedures, service blueprints

• Content solutions: Messages, training materials, documentation

Why this matters: For smooth registration, you might need all three—digital interface, approval workflow, and welcome emails. Each requires different expertise and timelines.

Integration with existing work

Critical principle: Don't create parallel workflows.

Practical integration:

• Add journey review to existing quarterly planning agendas

• Map existing roadmaps back to journeys to spot gaps

• Link solutions in Jira/Azure DevOps to journey opportunities

• Use journeys to contextualize already-planned work

The reverse engineering strategy:

Start by documenting what teams are already working on. Map their existing solutions back to the journey. This helps stakeholders quickly see:

• Where they're over-focusing resources

• Which journey moments are neglected

• How planned work connects to customer impact

This isn't cheating—it's effective engagement that demonstrates value before asking for behavior change.

Who uses opportunities and solutions?

Different stakeholders need different things:

Strategic level (leadership):

Dashboard view of progress, resource allocation decisions, and ROI understanding

Tactical level (product, project leads):

Collaborative opportunity definition, prioritization, and trade-off decisions

Operational level (developers, designers):

Context for why work matters, connection to customer impact, motivation through meaningful work

A practical example: The developer value proposition

When delivery teams see how their solutions improve customer lives, they:

• Produce better quality work with proper context

• Can question misaligned priorities constructively

• Feel motivated by purpose, not just productivity

Cultural shift: If your product owner can't explain how work connects to a journey opportunity, pause and ask why. This ensures effective resource allocation.

Common questions addressed

"Won't this slow us down?"

The opposite. Understanding opportunities first prevents wasted months building solutions that miss the mark. Time invested upfront saves far more than it costs.

"We already have OKRs and roadmaps. Why add this?"

Journey management enhances existing systems with customer context. It ensures OKRs and roadmaps actually address the most important customer problems.

"How do we handle stakeholders who want immediate solutions?"

Start where they are. Document their solutions, map them to the journey, then ask: "What problem does this solve? Are there other ways? How will we measure success?" Use their solutions as conversation starters.

"What if opportunities don't align with strategic goals?"

Start by acknowledging that not every opportunity can, or should, be prioritized. If an opportunity falls outside the current strategic focus, it may be appropriate to deprioritize it. But when research consistently shows a significant impact on key business or customer metrics, it may point to a strategic gap rather than a tactical misalignment.

In those cases, bring the evidence to leadership:

“Our research shows X is affecting [business metric], but it’s not reflected in our current goals. Should we reconsider?”

This shifts CX from executing against strategy to helping shape it. Journey management then becomes a strategic partner in decision-making.

Key takeaways

Opportunities and solutions transform journeys from documentation to decision-making tools that drive business results.

Foundation:

• Journey management is about ROI, helping organizations invest resources most effectively

• Separate problem space (opportunities) from solution space to explore multiple approaches

• Use bottom-up (insights) and top-down (strategy) validation for opportunities

• Solutions come in multiple types: digital, process, and content

Implementation:

• Start anywhere (solutions or opportunities) and iterate — maintain clarity about what's what

• Integrate into existing workflows rather than creating parallel processes

• Reverse engineer existing plans back to journeys as an engagement strategy

• Create different views for strategic, tactical, and operational stakeholders

Remember: The goal isn't comprehensive documentation. It's tracking progress, connecting decisions to impact, and enabling stakeholders to focus on what matters most.

What's next?

Episode 6 covered transforming journeys into action through opportunities and solutions. But how do you keep this sustainable? How do you establish workflows that keep journeys alive and relevant?

In Episode 7, we'll explore collaboration and workflow: Establishing ceremonies that work, creating processes that stick, and scaling journey management across your organization.

The challenge isn't creating the journey. The challenge is integrating it into daily decision-making so it becomes indispensable.

Further exploration

Watch the full Episode 6 for detailed demonstrations, or revisit structuring journeys and validating your work.