User Story Mapping: Tag Key Results by User Journey Stage

This is one of RoadmapOne ’s articles on Key Result Tagging frameworks .

Jeff Patton’s User Story Mapping is one of the most useful visualisation techniques in product management. It transforms a flat backlog into a two-dimensional map showing the user journey horizontally (the “backbone”) and feature depth vertically. It’s brilliant for understanding scope and planning releases.

But it’s not prioritisation. And it’s not just for stories.

User Story Mapping’s backbone is a tagging dimension—like Pirate Metrics (AARRR) or HEART . The backbone provides categories: where in the user journey does this work—or this measurement—sit? Tag your Key Results by backbone position, and you can instantly see which parts of the customer experience you’re actually measuring.

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The Backbone as Tagging Dimension

What the Backbone Represents

In classic User Story Mapping, the backbone runs horizontally across the top of the map. It represents the user’s journey through your product—the activities they perform in sequence to accomplish their goals.

For an e-commerce product, the backbone might be:

Browse → Search → Compare → Add to Cart → Checkout → Track Order → Return/Support

For a SaaS product:

Sign Up → Onboard → First Value → Core Workflow → Expand Usage → Advocate

Each backbone position is a stage in the user journey.

Backbone as Key Result Tags

Here’s the insight: apply backbone positions as tags to your Key Results.

When you tag a Key Result as “Checkout” or “Onboarding” or “Core Workflow,” you’re categorising where in the user journey this metric lives. You’re not saying it’s more or less important—you’re describing what part of the experience you’re measuring.

Example Key Results tagged by journey stage:

This is identical to how Pirate Metrics works. When you tag a Key Result as “Activation” or “Retention,” you’re categorising by funnel stage. User Story Mapping’s backbone does the same thing—just oriented around user journey rather than business funnel. See also customer journey stage tagging for a similar lifecycle-based categorisation approach.

Tag Key Results by journey stage in RoadmapOne

Measurement Coverage Across the Journey

Why This Matters

Once you tag Key Results by user journey stage, you can see measurement coverage.

Imagine reviewing your OKRs and discovering:

• 45% of Key Results measure “Core Workflow”
• 25% measure “Checkout”
• 20% measure “Onboarding”
• 10% measure “Post-Purchase/Support”
• 0% measure “Browse/Discovery”

That distribution tells a story. You’re heavily measuring the middle of the journey but have no visibility into how users discover and explore your product. Maybe that’s deliberate—your discovery experience is already well-understood. Or maybe it’s a dangerous blind spot.

Tagging by backbone position makes the blind spot visible. Without the tag, you’d never notice that browse/discovery has no Key Results at all.

Combining with Other KR Tags

The power comes from combining journey tags with other Key Result tagging dimensions:

User Journey × Outcome/Output/Input:

• Are your “Checkout” KRs measuring outcomes (conversion rate) or outputs (checkout redesign shipped)?
• Are your “Onboarding” KRs measuring impact (activation rate) or activity (onboarding emails sent)?

User Journey × Confidence Level:

• High-confidence KRs for “Core Workflow” (you have lots of data)
• Low-confidence KRs for “Discovery” (new area, less certainty)

User Journey × Validation Method:

• “Checkout” KRs validated by A/B testing
• “Onboarding” KRs validated by cohort analysis
• “Discovery” KRs validated by user research

Multiple tagging dimensions create richer measurement analysis. You can ask: “Are we measuring Onboarding (journey) with outcome metrics (type) that have high confidence (level) and rigorous validation (method)?”

Journey Tags vs Pirate Metrics

User Story Mapping backbone tags and Pirate Metrics tags overlap but aren’t identical:

Pirate Metrics is business-funnel focused—how users flow toward revenue. User journey stages are experience-focused—what users actually do in sequence.

Use both. A Key Result might be tagged:

• Pirate Metrics: Activation
• Journey Stage: Onboarding
• Outcome Type: Outcome (not output)
• Confidence: 70%

Each dimension adds information. Together they create a complete picture of what you’re measuring and why.

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Practical Implementation

Define Your Backbone

Start by defining the backbone stages for your product. Be specific to your domain:

E-commerce backbone: Discovery → Search → Product Detail → Cart → Checkout → Order Tracking → Returns/Support

SaaS backbone: Awareness → Sign-up → Onboarding → First Value → Core Usage → Power Usage → Account Management

B2B with multiple actors: You may need multiple backbones for different user types:

• Buyer journey: Evaluate → Purchase → Implement → Renew
• End-user journey: Onboard → Daily Use → Advanced Features → Troubleshoot

Tag Existing Key Results

Go through your current OKRs and tag each Key Result by primary journey stage. If a KR spans multiple stages, pick the primary one—or create separate KRs for each stage.

Analyse Coverage

Generate a view showing Key Result distribution across journey stages. Ask:

• Are any stages completely unmeasured?
• Are we over-measuring certain stages?
• Does the distribution match our strategic focus?

If you’re focused on growth, you’d expect heavy measurement in early journey stages (discovery, onboarding). If you’re focused on retention, you’d expect measurement in core usage and post-purchase.

Identify Gaps

The most valuable insight is often what’s missing. If “Discovery” has zero Key Results, you have no visibility into whether users can find what they need. That’s either a deliberate choice or a dangerous blind spot.

The Bottom Line

User Story Mapping isn’t just for stories—the backbone works as a tagging dimension for Key Results. Tag KRs by user journey stage, and you can see whether you’re measuring the complete customer experience or just fragments of it.

This is the same pattern as Pirate Metrics (funnel stages), HEART (UX dimensions), and Outcome/Output/Input (metric types). Tagging frameworks categorise measurements so you can analyse coverage. They don’t tell you which metrics matter most—they ensure you’re measuring across the dimensions that matter.

Use journey stage tagging to ensure measurement coverage across the user experience. Combine with other KR tags for complete visibility into what you’re measuring, how confident you are, and whether you’re actually tracking outcomes.

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References

• Jeff Patton, User Story Mapping — The original methodology
• Pirate Metrics (AARRR) — Tagging by business funnel stage
• HEART Framework — Tagging by UX metric type
• Outcome vs Output vs Input — Distinguishing metric types
• Key Result Tagging Frameworks — Complete guide to KR tagging