Affinity Mapping Template (free)

[Raw research notes and observations from interviews, sticky note observations, and field notes]

[e.g. Jan 8, 2026 – Jan 22, 2026]

[e.g. Priya Shah]

[e.g. Where do users experience the most friction in completing cross-functional operational workflows?]

"I usually have the numbers in one dashboard, approvals in email, and the final update in Slack. By the time I piece it all together, the meeting has already started and I'm still screenshotting stuff."

"Field note: participant paused for nearly two minutes looking for the latest status, then said, 'I never know which report is the real one unless I ask ops to confirm it.'"

"On the sticky note she wrote, 'I just copy the request into my own spreadsheet because if I wait for the system to update, nothing moves today.'"

"'The request is basically done, but it sits there until finance signs off, and if they're in meetings all afternoon, we're stuck.'"

"Field note: during handoff discussion, participant said, 'I have to ping design, then sales, then legal—otherwise everyone assumes someone else owns it.'"

"'Every Friday turns into report cleanup. The exports don't line up, the labels are different, and I spend an hour just making it presentable for leadership.'"

"Sticky note observation: 'We only notice something is off when a customer asks about it. Internally there's no clean view showing what's delayed or why.'"

"'Honestly, the work itself is fine. It's the constant chasing—asking who approved what, checking three tools, then rewriting updates so the next team can actually use them.'"

Users lose time stitching together information, reformatting outputs, and creating their own stopgap processes to keep work moving.

Progress depends on repeated follow-ups, cross-team clarification, and manual coordination because ownership and handoffs are unclear.

Teams struggle to find a trusted, up-to-date view of status and performance, making it difficult to act confidently.

Work stalls at specific approval and handoff points, creating delays that feel disproportionate to the remaining effort.

Current tools do not support the full workflow, forcing users to bounce between systems and reconstruct context manually.

Key insight: Users spend significant effort compensating for broken workflow continuity rather than completing the actual task.

Representative quote: "Every Friday turns into report cleanup. The exports don't line up, the labels are different, and I spend an hour just making it presentable for leadership."

Recommended action: Simplify recurring workflow steps by standardizing outputs and reducing the need for manual re-entry or cleanup.

Key insight: Cross-functional work depends too heavily on informal follow-up, which creates uncertainty about ownership and slows handoffs.

Representative quote: "I have to ping design, then sales, then legal—otherwise everyone assumes someone else owns it."

Recommended action: Clarify ownership and handoff expectations with visible status indicators, named owners, and notification rules.

Key insight: Teams do not have a shared, trusted view of current status, causing hesitation and repeated verification behavior.

Representative quote: "I never know which report is the real one unless I ask ops to confirm it."

Recommended action: Create a single reliable source of truth for status and reporting with clearer freshness and ownership signals.

Key insight: Approval steps introduce avoidable waiting time, especially when downstream teams cannot see where requests are stuck.

Representative quote: "The request is basically done, but it sits there until finance signs off, and if they're in meetings all afternoon, we're stuck."

Recommended action: Audit high-friction approval points and redesign them with SLAs, escalation paths, or reduced approval requirements.

Key insight: Users are forced across multiple disconnected tools, increasing context switching and making routine tasks feel fragmented.

Representative quote: "I usually have the numbers in one dashboard, approvals in email, and the final update in Slack. By the time I piece it all together, the meeting has already started and I'm still screenshotting stuff."

Recommended action: Consolidate key workflow touchpoints or improve integrations so users can complete common tasks without jumping between systems.

[e.g. Users are not blocked by one single task—they are slowed by fragmented tools, unclear ownership, and manual reporting overhead across the workflow.]

[e.g. Process Bottlenecks]

[e.g. Prioritize a workflow redesign workshop focused on approvals, reporting views, and cross-team handoffs.]

[e.g. Head of Operations, Product Manager, Design Lead]

[e.g. Jan 24, 2026]