What is the difference between user journey and task flow

Question

I was wondering if you could explain me what is the difference between a user journey and a task flow? I tried to read and look for example images in Google...and I can't find the difference between them. Both of them are presented in flow charts??

Answer 1

Task flows are a tool to help us think through the design before a feature is actually developed. They allow us to interject the user into the flow of the application and determine if the conceptual model agrees with the user model.

Task flow is in relation to the activity flow within the application.

Customer journey maps are documents that visually illustrate an individual customer’s needs, the series of interactions that are necessary to fulfill those needs, and the resulting emotional states a customer experiences throughout the process.

User Journey encompasses task flow by virtue that it contains information on how the user interaction with the application begins, environmental/situational factors which lead to the usage of the application in the first place and also considers the qualitative factors such as the user's emotions, expectations, behavior, etc.

Further reading on user journey: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/09/the-value-of-customer-journey-maps-a-ux-designers-personal-journey.php

Answer 2

A task flow is larger than a user journey.

'User journey' is typically used to talk about the 'path' of interface views and actions that the user follows in executing his or her task. That task is the larger set of actions - including actions outside the computer system - for achieving a particular goal.

For instance, if I am looking for a good CD to buy my sister for her birthday, my task flow is to find CDs I know she is interested in by executing multiple user journeys that involve me running searches on different e-commerce sites.