Aglet

Verify a Contextual Workflow Map

A workflow map is useful when it reflects the conditions that make the task succeed or fail. Verification compares the map with observation notes and participant explanations, checks its edge contexts, and records which stages remain inferred. It should be precise about its coverage.

Check whether the outcome improved

  1. Define map acceptance

    Require trigger, actions, tools, handoffs, waits, interruptions, recovery, and outcome for each mapped stage. Mark whether each element is observed, reported, or inferred. Include a rule for recording a workaround without declaring it a preferred path.

  2. Check varied cases

    Review the map against ordinary, pressured, assisted, and exception paths. Compare participants or settings where the task context differs. Inspect missing steps and collapsed handoffs, especially where another person or system owns the next action.

  3. Approve the boundary

    State which contexts the map represents and what requires more observation. Record contradictions instead of smoothing them into one path. Give a follow-up owner when an inferred stage could alter the product problem or service scope.

What to carry forward

The verification record should show map criteria, cases, source types, contradictions, and coverage limits. Approve the map for the contexts observed. Retain open stages and workarounds as research questions until their cause or prevalence is better understood.

Technical background: GOV.UK user research guidance.

Keep the decision with the work.

Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.

Create an account See the product workflow