# Mapping AI Skill Lead Area · Mapping Move · Decision Map --- ## 1. What the Skill Does The Mapping skill helps teams draw a visible line from what users are trying to do all the way to the outcome the business is trying to reach. It is the second move inside the Lead area of Glare's Decision Map. This is where a design metric stops being a design team concern and becomes evidence that every function in the business can trace and trust. Most teams have metrics at each layer — a usability score, a retention number, a revenue target — but they live in separate documents owned by separate teams. Nobody connects them. Leadership sees lagging business numbers with no explanation. Design sees strong usability scores that nobody acts on. The Mapping skill fixes that by building one chain that links all five layers together, with UX metrics as the connective tissue in the middle. The chain has five rungs. Every rung must be named. | Rung | What it names | Example | |---|---|---| | 1. User Need | What users are trying to get done | Finish onboarding quickly and without confusion | | 2. Design KPI | Whether users succeed in the moment | Onboarding completion rate: 55% → 85% | | 3. Product KPI | Whether users adopt and return | Trial-to-paid conversion doubled | | 4. Business KPI | Whether the company benefits | Pipeline revenue grew by 25% | | 5. Business Goal | The pressure leadership already tracks | Revenue growth | An unnamed rung is a broken link. When a Product KPI drops, the Design KPI explains why. When a Business KPI rises, the Design and Product KPIs make it credible. Without the chain, leaders only see results they cannot explain and cannot reproduce. **The Missing Rung Rule** Teams often present a Design KPI and a Business KPI in the same slide as if the connection between them is obvious. It is not. A 79% task success rate does not self-evidently produce revenue growth. The product layer in the middle — adoption, return rate, trial conversion — is what makes the connection credible and repeatable. The rule is simple: before sharing any chain with leadership, fill in every rung by name. If any rung is blank, stop and find it before presenting. A chain with a gap in it is not a chain — it is two separate claims that happen to be on the same slide. --- ## 2. Business Benefit A complete Chain of Proof gives every function a shared way to see design's contribution. It makes design work explainable, defensible, and repeatable — not just in the sprint it was created, but in every review, roadmap session, and budget conversation that follows. This helps teams: - show leadership why a design metric matters without asking them to take it on faith - give product managers a reason to prioritize design work in the roadmap - make design investment easier to defend when budgets are reviewed - keep the chain visible and updated so it grows more credible over time - give every function — sales, finance, engineering — a rung they can point to One complete chain is worth more than ten disconnected metrics. --- ## 3. Skill Output When used correctly, the skill produces a complete Chain of Proof for a design effort. The chain shows: - all five rungs named with specific metrics at each layer - the direction of the connection from user need to business goal - the UX metric that makes the product and business layers explainable - a note on which rung is weakest or missing The example below shows how this works for a mobile banking dashboard. | Rung | Example Output (Mobile Banking Dashboard) | |---|---| | User Need | Users need to locate their balance and recent transactions within one tap so they feel in control of their finances | | Design KPI | First-click success on balance and transaction history: improved from 61% to 79% | | Product KPI | Session return rate increased — users who find information quickly return within 48 hours at a higher rate | | Business KPI | 90-day retention rate improved; account closure rate dropped | | Business Goal | Retention — keep customers and reduce churn | | Connective Tissue | The Design KPI explains why the Product KPI moved: users who succeed on first click return more often. The Product KPI explains why the Business KPI moved: higher return frequency reduces account closure. | | Weakest Rung | Product KPI — return rate data has not yet been pulled from analytics. This rung needs to be confirmed before the chain is shared with leadership. | | Next Step Handoff | → glare-lead-workflows to translate this chain into the language of each function that needs to act on it | The output connects directly to the other Lead moves: - Business Goals names the pressure and goal that anchor the top rung - Workflows uses the chain to translate each rung into a specific function's vocabulary - Results tracks whether the chain is moving over time and where it is breaking --- ## 4. Prompt Strategies The prompts below show different ways to use this skill. Each example uses a mobile banking dashboard update. --- ### Prompt 1 — Build Entry: Construct a chain from a design result "Our mobile banking dashboard usability test showed first-click success on transaction history improved from 61% to 79%. We believe this connects to retention but we have not built the full chain yet. Using the glare-lead-mapping skill, help us fill in all five rungs of the Chain of Proof — from the user need at the bottom to the business goal at the top — and identify which rung we still need data for." **Why this works:** A strong Design KPI with no chain is a design team result, not a business result. This prompt uses the five-rung structure to build the full connection and — critically — name which rung is currently missing so the team knows exactly what to find before the chain can be presented credibly. **Best for:** - teams that have a strong metric but have not connected it to a business outcome - preparing a chain before a leadership review or roadmap discussion - identifying which data gap needs to be filled before the chain can travel --- ### Prompt 2 — Audit Entry: Find the broken rung "We have been presenting our mobile banking dashboard results to leadership for two quarters. We share usability scores and a retention number but leadership keeps asking how they connect. Using glare-lead-mapping, audit our current metric set — Design KPI: first-click success 79%, Business KPI: 90-day retention up 4% — and tell us which rung is missing, why the chain does not feel credible to leadership, and what we need to fill the gap." **Why this works:** A Design KPI and a Business KPI with no Product KPI in between is the most common chain failure. This prompt uses the missing rung rule to name the gap precisely — the product adoption layer — and explain why the chain does not feel connected from a leadership perspective. **Best for:** - any situation where leadership acknowledges design results but does not act on them - diagnosing why a metric presentation keeps generating questions instead of decisions - building a more credible chain before the next review cycle --- ### Prompt 3 — Direction Entry: Build a chain downward from a business goal "Our company's top priority this quarter is improving 90-day retention for mobile banking users. Our leadership wants design to contribute to this goal. Using glare-lead-mapping, help us build the Chain of Proof downward from this business goal — naming the Business KPI, Product KPI, Design KPI, and user need that would form the chain — and tell us which design work to prioritize based on where the chain connects most directly." **Why this works:** Teams usually build chains upward from what they already measured. Building downward from a leadership goal is more powerful — it starts with what the business needs to move and traces back to the design work that can move it, so every research and design decision is anchored to the outcome from the start. **Best for:** - any sprint that needs to be explicitly connected to a company-level goal - preparing a design proposal that needs leadership backing before work begins - connecting a new initiative to an existing business priority without starting from scratch --- *Glare Framework · glare-lead-mapping · Lead Area* *Handoffs: glare-lead-business-goals · glare-lead-workflows · glare-lead-results · glare-focus*