A user journey is the experiences a person has when interacting with something, typically software. It describes the step by step process that a user goes through to achieve a goal, incorporating their feelings, pain points, and moments of delight across different touchpoints.
Mapping the user journey helps teams empathize with the user and see the product from their perspective, rather than from a system architecture perspective. It highlights friction points and opportunities for improvement that might be invisible when looking at individual features in isolation.
A journey is not linear. Users jump between devices, get interrupted, and change their minds. Our software must be resilient to these interruptions, preserving context and allowing users to pick up exactly where they left off.