Mini-Customer Journey (Begin with the End in Mind)

I was recently in the hospital for a follow-up doctor visit.

Like most hospitals, this hospital is relatively large and spread out over a mini-campus of multiple buildings and many floors.

Frankly, it's a bit overwhelming, with the bustling activity of medical professionals busily going about their work, somehow knowing exactly where they need to be in this sprawling complex.

There are easily twenty entrances to the hospital, making it a challenge to simply find an entrance that might be close to where you ultimately need to go.

I was warned in advance to enter at one particular entrance, and, after circling the various parking lots to find the entrance... so far so good. Challenge #1, overcome!

Now, Where Am I Exactly?

There is a big sign labeling all of the buildings and units just inside this entrance, but no map, just pointers to specific areas where there is presumably further signage guiding a visitor along.

This signage technique is called wayfinding. You can't provide ALL of the information someone might need, but you point them in the right direction, and further along, they'll have other wayfinding clues to keep them on track. Breadcrumbs essentially, that provide a hint of the path without explicitly mapping it out for you.

(FYI - I can seriously geek out on various mapping, signage and labeling approaches... my company is called Information Architected after all)

At this entrance, there is a greeter at the desk, who jumped straight to attention and asked where I needed to go.

I told her where I was supposed to be heading, mangling the description a bit at 7:30 am, and she walked around the desk and handed me a pre-printed card.

It's Just a Jump to the Left

Well, it's quite a jump to the left. It's a long walk down one of the main hallways, and THEN a LEFT, then another long hallway, and there's the elevator.

This is roughly a 10-minute walk.

And on the 4th floor, voila, there is the desk to check-in.

Remarkably simple, pre-printed guides, no more having to remember directions or wasting the greeter's time by having her repeat the same directions all day.

Having been a patient in the hospital for a week, I've seen plenty of other signs (yes, literally) that they practice the Lean Thinking technique of "Standard Work" for medical staff. But this card is an example of "Standard Work" for patients or visitors. Interesting way to flip the technique around.

Follow the bouncing ball, and with little fuss, mission accomplished.

But How Do I Get Back?

I didn't realize it on the journey to the 4th floor, but as I was wondering if I should ask a nurse for directions back to where I'd come from, I flipped over the card and...

Look at that, they thought through the entire round-trip journey.

Presumably, if you enter at one entrance, you parked just outside of it, and want to return from where you started.

Such a simple tool, but it benefits both the "customer" as well as the employees, freeing everyone up for other, more value-adding work.

Are You Picturing the End-to-End Experience for Your Customers?

It's easy to get carried away with the initial experience, often the onboarding experience, and completely forget about a clean and well-executed ending experience.

If you look at the experience from the end and walk it backward, is it the kind of experience you'd like to deliver?

Does it serve your customers (or patients) well as a graceful and orchestrated end of the experience?

Are there any hand-offs that are needed that would make it smoother?

If you have any stories/examples where you've tried this technique on your own customer experiences or experienced a great or particularly awkward end-to-end experience, please comment.

I'd love to compare notes on the best of the best and the worst of the worst.