The Purpose
You've mapped the terrain — you know WHO the players are and what jobs they're trying to accomplish. But knowing who plays isn't the same as understanding how they play. SEQUENCE is about watching the game in motion.
Most PMs skip this. They see the players, assume they know the moves, and jump straight to solutions. But assumptions about what people DO are almost always wrong. The only way to see the gaps is to trace the actual behavior — step by step, emotion by emotion.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Without sequencing:
- You build for imaginary workflows that don't match reality
- You miss the "hidden" steps that cause the most friction
- You design solutions that interrupt instead of integrate
- You optimize for events instead of patterns
The Iceberg Insight: Events are just the tip. Below the surface lie patterns, structures, and mental models. SEQUENCE gets you past the events to see what's really driving behavior.
The Level 1 → 3 Shift
Level 1
Maps features and assumes user flows
Level 2
Conducts user interviews and builds journey maps
Level 3
Traces complete experience cycles (before, during, after), captures emotional states at each step, identifies habit loops, and connects flows across all players — including opponents