CJML has been developed in close collaboration with industry partners through multiple research and innovation projects in the period of 2012–2020. Guided by user-centered design, more than 11 public and private service providers, four research institutions, and two consultancies have been actively involved.

Since its inception in 2012, CJML has undergone over ten iterative releases. The initial versions were built on experiences from industry collaboration concerning service innovation and customer experiences. The following activities inspired the initial design of CJML: literature studies, surveys, requirement analysis through interviews with the target users and workshops with cross-functional teams. A comprehensive evaluation of CJML in 2015 resulted in modifications to its abstract and visual syntax. Subsequent evaluations have prompted further revisions.

Direct collaboration and frequent interactions with the target users from the service industry form the basis for identifying specific user requirements and for providing nuances to use context. Case studies with the industry partners were the main driver of each development cycle. The case study methodology involves the examination of phenomena (service offerings) and experiences in their natural context using multiple data sources, and there is an emphasis on qualitative data and analysis. Some cases were grounded in known problems and a need for improvement (journey redesign). Other cases were grounded in the need to identify and document a complex service process (journey discovery), which, in turn, uncovered unknown problems or user barriers (journey conformance). A few cases also involved the development of new service processes, with CJML as one of the innovation tools.

The development of CJML has followed the guiding principles of design-science research, as shown in the figure.

The early versions of CJML was called “VISUAL”, named after an innovation project from 2013-2016. More information about the VISUAL project can be found here: https://visualproject.org/ (this site is no longer maintained.)