“One way to develop more empathy with — and gain new insights about — your customers is to look beyond the narrow definition of your offering and consider the customer’s total experience” - IDEO.

Last week at class we talked about journey maps. According to IDEO, who is at the forefront of creating change through design, one way to develop more empathy with — and gain new insights about — your customers is to look beyond the narrow definition of your offering and consider the customer’s total experience. They introduced the concept of using ‘Journey Maps’ to uncover innovation opportunities.

As Reshan Richards indulged the class to his journey to school and an imaginary journey to an atm machine, I can’t help but think about the events I went through myself over the weekend. And so, for the sake of mapping out experience, I created a journey map of losing my daughter’s class pet hamster named, ‘Milkshake’.

Touchpoint # 1: Winning the lottery.

The deal was, you gotta win the name lottery to bring home the class hamster. Finally, my daughter Aliyah, who loves all animals, won the lottery and she was ECSTATIC!

Touchpoint # 2: Hamster care.

Over the weekend, the kids played and took care of the hamster. They were CAUTIOUS at handling the hamster, feeding him just the right amount of treats, playing together with ‘Milkshake’ and watching it walk around the hallway in its hamster ball.

Touchpoint # 3: Going for a run.

Monday morning and its time to return the class hamster back to school. Before heading on with our day, I went on for a quick run with Aliyah and our dog, Blu. I was about to shut the door when Carina (the youngest) asked me if she can put ‘Milkshake’ in his hamster ball to get some exercise. I paused and said ‘Sure!’. Why not? They’ve been doing it all weekend, what could possibly go wrong?

Touchpoint #4: Where is ‘Milkshake’?!

After taking the dog for a run, we came back home to get ready for school. My other two kids already ate their breakfast — nice! All I need to do is make lunch for my kids and get ready for work. I should be okay since I still had 30 mins left. Aliyah ate her breakfast and walks down the hallway to get ready for school. Just then Aliyah in a loud voice asked…. “Where is ‘Milkshake’?!!”. My heart stopped for a second. And there it was, at the end of the hallway, an empty hamster ball!!! Nooooo!!!

Touchpoint # 5: I’m doomed!!

I was in SHOCK! Everything was going so well. What went wrong? I freaked out, I panicked, I yelled and cried at and with my kids. Now Carina is crying, guilty of losing the hamster and Aliyah is devastated — doesn’t want to go to school (I can’t blame her). I have to go to work… blah blah blah… What do I do?!!!

I ended up sending the “I have an emergency” email to work. I had no choice. I can’t leave the poor kid and the poor lost hamster with a sniffing labrador retriever home alone.

Touchpoint # 6: GAME PLAN

I sent the painful email to Aliyah’s teachers as well. I called it ‘Milkshake 9–1–1 ‘. I picked up a mousetrap from school. Apparently, a class hamster escaped once before and they use the mousetrap to catch it again. Aliyah and I read a lot of online articles on how to catch a hamster. We set up cheese and strawberry baits on top of aluminum foil with sprinkled flour in every room in the apartment. Yes, that’s how you catch a sneaky hamster! (Apparently, the flour will bust their tracks) And lastly, we put up a sign on the building door for a ‘missing hamster’. We were DETERMINED!

Touchpoint #7: The cheese is gone!!

Didn’t really get some sleep. I was on guard in case I hear a crinkly, wrestling hamster steps from the tin foil we set up in the rooms. The next morning, my little detectives went on to check each and every trap we’ve placed. Each room was a disappointment, baits were untouched. The last room to check was the closet room… my kids ran down the hallway to check. Alas!!! I was THRILLED to hear them say “The cheese is gone! The cheese is gone!!!” — There’s hope!

Touchpoint # 8: Little Houdini’s rustling sound

It was a no school day. We pretty much got lucky to have an extra day to either find the hamster or prepare Aliyah on how to deal with everyone’s stink eye at class for losing ‘Milkshake’. I was even silently contemplating on buying a new hamster, naming it ‘Milkshake’ and calling it quits.

We quarantined the room and sealed every corner in case the hamster is still in there and is planning another escape. But we're not gonna sit there and wait. We knew ‘Milkshake’ snoozes all day because he’s nocturnal. We were getting ready to give Blu (the dog) her long morning walk when Aliyah came running to my room saying “I can hear Milkshake, Mommy!!!, I can hear him rustle under there!”. I got EXCITED!

Touchpoint # 9: Teamwork saves the day! ‘Milkshake’ is back in Aliyah’s arms!!!

I rushed down to the closet room. I stood in there quietly with Aliyah and true enough I can hear that little guy. Using my phone for a flashlight, I peeked behind the 8 ft. double closet. There it was, that little tiny rodent is hiding back there. I gathered my strength to move the double door closet bit by bit. The dog was curious and started barking and scaring the hamster away, so Kleo (the eldest) had to hold her away from the room. Carina (the youngest), had to run and get gloves because the hamster can bite when hungry. I kept moving the closet slowly and Aliyah (the middle child and ‘the victim’) waited to grab the hamster. After 10 minutes of wrestling with moving the closet and the hamster going back and forth running for its dear life, finally ‘Milkshake’ is back in Aliyah’s arms again! We all hugged in VICTORY! After that, we went out for lunch and celebrated with… a milkshake! :)

(By the way, this all happened the week my husband had to go to San Francisco for work — he missed all the action and I’m not jealous about that.)

For me, the pain points in this journey are teachable moments for me and my children just like it would be to any developer of a product or an experience.

While this journey map seems trivial and is not the usual customer experience map used when designing an innovation or a product, I learn so much by simply identifying the touch points. For me, the pain points in this journey are teachable moments for me and my children just like it would be to any developer of a product or an experience.

When my kids were cautious and having fun with ‘Milkshake’, they learned how to be responsible and to take turns.

When Aliyah cried and didn’t know what to do or say to her classmates, Carina apologized. She knew at that moment that she had something to do with it not watching the hamster ball and she said ‘I’m sorry’. Aliyah, on the other hand, learned about forgiveness.

I also realized I shouldn't have panicked. It didn’t help the situation at all. It’s a freakin’ hamster not the end of the world. I also learned to apologize to Carina for being too hard on her. I know she would never intentionally lose her sister’s class pet.

During the research and planning stage on how to catch the hamster, my kids learned a lot about hamsters as escape artists. We learned never to leave a hamster in a ball alone — EVER!!! We also learned how to be persistent and optimistic. And when we found out that ‘Milkshake’ was under the closet, teamwork saved the day!

The whole point of mapping out a journey is to learn from human experiences and to uncover innovation opportunities.

There were a lot of should’ve, would’ve, could’ve moments too, like, I should’ve said ‘no’ to bringing the hamster home or, I would’ve said ‘no’ to Carina when she asked if she can put the hamster in her ball for the last morning exercise or, I could’ve stayed calm when we found out about the escape… but I didn’t. And because I didn’t, we learned a lot and on our next Hamster Journey, we’ll know exactly what to do.

The whole point of mapping out a journey is to learn from human experiences and to uncover innovation opportunities. The Hamster Journey map did exactly that. It identified weak points that I can use to strategize and improve myself in dealing with a similar situation — only, this journey map is for parents and children who decide to bring home a class pet hamster in the future.