A user journey is similar in some ways to an algorithm in that describes the path that will be taken and the decisions that need to be made along with the information required to feed into those decisions, but it also attends to the emotional and softer side of the process.
A User journey recognises that not all customers are the same and is generally driven by personas developed specially for the job. It takes into account the fact that in different states of mind users will behave differently.
The “Explained series” is planned to build into a trustworthy collection of explanations and commentaries that can be trusted to tell the story straight without any bias and attempt to make the subjects accessible to the layman. The latter is not always easy as some of these terms refer to genuinely complex subject matter, while others are simply too vague to pin down (there’s another word for that).
If you want an answer on something and you can’t find it easily, please use the comments section to just ask and I will appreciate not having to research the next topic.