Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 356c6861798fde5c700e262c9bb66f187b7b2d23a24f63861c074e5104714e49

# Empathy Mapping

Participants map a specific user or customer profile across seven distinct categories using evidence and observed behaviors. They analyze pain points and emotional drivers to extract actionable product or service priorities.

**Time:** 45 minutes. UWT suggested duration for thorough small-group mapping and synthesis; the source describes a multi-stage workshop process without fixed minute allocations.
**People:** 4 to 24. Small groups of 3 to 6 people working on parallel boards, followed by whole-room debrief.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Synthesize customer research into a shared visual model of a user's sensory environment, actions, thoughts, and frustrations.
**Use it when:** Use during discovery, product planning, or team onboarding when a group needs to align on user needs before drafting requirements or strategic roadmaps.
**Skip it when:** Skip when primary research, interview data, or direct customer feedback is completely absent, or when technical implementation details are the sole meeting focus.

## Materials and tools

- Pre-printed or drawn 7-section Empathy Map poster per small group
- Sticky notes (pad per person)
- Fine-tip markers (one per person)
- Wall tape or display stands
- Printouts of customer quotes or user research summaries

## Before participants arrive

1. Draw or paste the 7-zone empathy template on wall posters or large tables for each group: User in center; Say & Do, Think & Feel, Hear, See around the user; Pains and Gains along the bottom.
2. Distribute sticky notes, markers, and user research summaries to each table.

## Say this to open

Today we are creating an empathy map to understand the real experience of our focus user. We will look past surface requests and map what they see, hear, say, do, think, and feel. Use actual research quotes whenever possible. Write one clear observation per sticky note.

## How to run it

### 1. Define profile and review research (7 minutes)

Small groups receive a user profile scenario or set of interview notes. The group assigns a name, occupation, and core context to the user in the center of their map poster. Facilitator reads the opening script and starts the timer. Participants read the background notes silently for four minutes, then agree on the user's primary goal.

### 2. Generate sensory and behavioral observations (12 minutes)

Working individually and silently for 6 minutes, participants write sticky notes for Say & Do, Think & Feel, Hear, and See. One thought per note. For the next 6 minutes, members take turns reading their notes aloud and placing them in the corresponding map quadrant. Group members combine duplicates without debate.

### 3. Map pains and gains (10 minutes)

Groups focus on the bottom two sections: Pains (frustrations, risks, obstacles, costs) and Gains (hopes, definitions of success, relief). Each person posts at least one pain and one gain supported by the upper quadrants. Groups discuss friction points where what the user says contradicts what they think or feel.

### 4. Synthesize conclusions and actions (10 minutes)

Each group reviews their complete board and writes three concrete takeaway statements on large cards: one core unmet need, one product or process friction to eliminate, and one next action step. If time remains, groups post their takeaway cards beside the map.

### 5. Cross-group review and debrief (6 minutes)

The room gathers around one or two boards. Facilitator invites two groups to highlight one non-obvious contradiction between Say and Think/Feel, followed by open facilitator questions to close the session.


## Debrief questions

- Where did you spot the biggest gap between what this user says openly and what they think or feel privately?
- Which listed pain point represents the greatest risk to user retention or satisfaction if left unaddressed?
- What missing piece of data would make this profile more accurate rather than speculative?

**Finished output:** A populated 7-section empathy map poster per subgroup with three actionable strategic conclusion statements.

## Remote

Create an online whiteboard with pre-configured templates matching the 7 zones (User, Say & Do, Think & Feel, Hear, See, Pains, Gains). Place participants in breakout rooms of 3 to 5. Have participants use digital sticky notes. Keep time centrally and call groups back to the main room for step 5.

## Hybrid

Assign remote participants to a dedicated all-remote breakout room using a shared digital board. In-person tables use physical boards. During debrief, screenshare the digital board and use a roving room microphone so in-person and online participants present takeaways equally.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may contribute via writing sticky notes, speaking observations, or grouping notes on the board without requirement to speak publicly.
- Anyone may decline to present during the room-wide debrief by passing to another table member without explanation.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants invent unrealistic scenarios rather than grounding their notes in customer realities.**

Point the group back to the provided research quotes. Ask: 'What specific customer quote or data point showed us this concern?'

**The team conflates 'Think & Feel' with basic demographic data.**

Clarify that Think & Feel captures internal, unstated emotional reactions and private worries, not facts like age or job title.


## Terms used here

- Pains: The obstacles, frustrations, risks, or costs experienced by the user while trying to achieve their goal.
- Gains: The positive outcomes, benefits, and definitions of success the user hopes to reach.

## Participant material: Empathy Map Layout Worksheet

[Center Box]
USER: Name, role, and current situation

[Top Left Box]
THINK & FEEL
What are their unspoken worries, private goals, and emotional reactions?

[Top Right Box]
HEAR
What are colleagues, family, and public advice telling them?

[Middle Left Box]
SAY & DO
What explicit statements do they make? What physical actions are they taking?

[Middle Right Box]
SEE
What does their environment look like? What alternatives or competitor tools do they observe?

[Bottom Left Box]
PAINS
Frustrations, fears, bottlenecks, and costs.

[Bottom Right Box]
GAINS
Desired outcomes, measures of success, and expected relief.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in EasyRetro design thinking template documentation. Origin of the general empathy mapping framework is widely associated with Dave Gray / XPLANE, but the provided evidence is attributed to EasyRetro.

The 7-zone structure (User, Say & Do, Think & Feel, Hear, See, Pains, Gains) and user examples (buying a computer, filing taxes) are retained from EasyRetro evidence. UWT added explicit group sizing, a 45-minute step breakdown with silent writing phases to prevent groupthink, printable worksheet text, and concrete debrief questions.

[EasyRetro](https://easyretro.io/templates/empathy-map/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/using-an-empathy-map-in-design-thinking-what-is-it-and-how-canit-help/