Workbook
Make the Mission Yours
Role: Customer Support
Use these activities to apply each principle to your current product, service, or project. These activities are a sample to get you started, not an exhaustive list. Adapt and expand them based on your team's context and needs. Capture your answers, share them with your team, and revisit them as you learn.
Important: When Using AI Tools
When using AI-assisted activities, always double-check for accuracy and meaning each and every time. AI tools can help accelerate your work, but human judgment, validation, and critical thinking remain essential.
Review AI-generated content with your team, validate it against real user feedback and domain knowledge, and ensure it truly serves your mission and user outcomes before proceeding.
2) Break Down Silos
Feed frontline insights directly into build/QA/design.
Learn More
For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 2) Break Down Silos section in the framework.
Workbook Activities (do now)
- ☐Join a sprint planning or review to present top recurring issues and examples.
- ☐Create a “support ready” checklist for new releases (known issues, macros, comms).
- ☐Pair with QA to turn a top recurring ticket into a regression test.
- ☐Share a short Loom/walkthrough of a high-volume issue to design/eng with repro steps.
- ☐Replace one long email thread with a live 10-minute sync to agree on a fix path for a top issue.
AI Assisted Activities
- ☐When AI generates support summaries or issue reports, have cross-functional team members (PM, design, engineering, QA) review them together to ensure they serve users and align with mission.
- ☐Use AI to help draft support-ready checklists or documentation, but ensure all roles contribute their perspectives during the actual planning sessions.
- ☐Have AI analyze support handoff patterns and issue escalation friction, then use those insights in cross-functional discussions to improve collaboration.
- ☐Use AI to help structure support collaboration sessions, but ensure human team members make decisions together about what to fix and how it serves users.
Evidence of Progress
- ☐Recurring issues are reflected in backlog/regression tests.
- ☐Releases include support-ready comms/macros.
3) User Engagement
Bring authentic user voice to the team.
Learn More
For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 3) User Engagement section in the framework.
Workbook Activities (do now)
- ☐Tag the top pain points with short narratives and user quotes; share weekly.
- ☐Record (or summarize) a representative call and share a 2-minute clip/summary.
- ☐Identify one quick product/content fix per week from tickets and propose it.
- ☐Collect three verbatim quotes for the highest-volume issue and share with design/PM.
- ☐Pair with a PM/Designer to validate wording or flows that drive confusion and suggest edits.
AI Assisted Activities
- ☐Use AI to analyze support tickets, user feedback, or call transcripts to identify patterns, but always validate AI insights through direct user engagement or observation.
- ☐Have AI generate questions for user follow-ups based on your support assumptions, then use those questions in real conversations with users to build genuine empathy.
- ☐Use AI to help summarize user pain points from support interactions, but ensure you review the summaries and add your own observations from direct user interactions.
- ☐Have AI analyze user behavior patterns from support data, then discuss those patterns with actual users to understand the "why" behind the issues before escalating.
Evidence of Progress
- ☐Team references your user quotes/clips in planning.
- ☐At least one fix per sprint is sourced from support insights.
4) Outcomes Over Outputs
Track support impact on outcomes, not just volume.
Learn More
For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 4) Outcomes Over Outputs section in the framework.
Workbook Activities (do now)
- ☐Pick one outcome metric (e.g., repeat contacts, time to resolve) tied to product issues; track weekly.
- ☐After a product fix, measure the change in that support metric.
- ☐Flag when support volume signals a missed outcome and escalate with data.
- ☐Post a short readout after a fix lands: trend of the metric and remaining gaps.
- ☐If the outcome didn’t move, propose a specific product/help content change.
AI Assisted Activities
- ☐When AI generates support reports or outcome summaries, define outcome metrics upfront and measure whether AI-generated insights achieve intended user outcomes, not just ticket resolution.
- ☐Use AI to help analyze support outcome data and identify patterns, but have human team members interpret what those patterns mean for users and the mission.
- ☐Have AI help draft support outcome definitions and success criteria, but ensure the team validates them against real user needs and business goals before proceeding.
- ☐Use AI to track and report on support outcome metrics, but schedule human team reviews to discuss what the metrics mean and how to adjust support processes based on observed impact.
Evidence of Progress
- ☐Support reports show outcome metrics tied to product fixes.
- ☐Product changes correlate with improved support outcomes.
5) Domain Knowledge
Map where support issues originate in the ecosystem.
Learn More
For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 5) Domain Knowledge section in the framework.
Workbook Activities (do now)
- ☐Map which back-stage systems drive your top support categories; note owners.
- ☐Highlight the most failure-prone steps in the user journey from tickets.
- ☐Share a simple service map with “hot spots” from support volume.
- ☐Meet briefly with an owner of a hot spot system to confirm the top pain and possible fixes.
- ☐Review a past high-severity issue and add one warning/guardrail to current support playbooks.
Evidence of Progress
- ☐Engineering sees a clear map of where support pain originates.
- ☐Hot spots are acknowledged and scheduled for improvement.
6) The Art of Storytelling
Tell user stories that motivate fixes.
Learn More
For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 6) The Art of Storytelling section in the framework.
Workbook Activities (do now)
- ☐Tell a “ticket to resolution” story: user impact → root cause → fix → outcome; share in review.
- ☐Prepare two summaries of top issues: one for execs (impact/trend) and one for the squad (specifics/repro).
- ☐Share a before/after vignette when a fix lands, highlighting the user benefit.
- ☐Include one customer quote or screenshot in your summary to make the pain real.
- ☐Record a 60-second clip walking through a top issue and why it matters to users.
AI Assisted Activities
- ☐Use AI to help structure or draft support stories and issue summaries, but refine them with real user anecdotes, emotions, and personal observations from direct user interactions.
- ☐Have AI generate different versions of support issue summaries for different audiences (executives vs team), but ensure each version includes authentic human stories about real user impact.
- ☐Use AI to help summarize support work in reviews, but lead presentations with human stories about real users, using AI-generated summaries as supporting material.
- ☐Have AI help draft support documentation or issue reports, but always include real user quotes, data points, or anecdotes that connect your support work to human impact.
Evidence of Progress
- ☐Stakeholders can retell the user stories behind top issues.
- ☐Fixes are prioritized with clear user-impact stories from support.