Journey Mapping is, without a doubt, one of the most important tools we use. We spend a lot of time and effort to create the most impactful maps we can. It’s all part of the job: * Dozens of workshops * Hours doing user research * And weeks of sensemaking. The perfect journey map. Success! But what comes after the map? Unfortunately, in most cases, it’s used... and then stowed away. The map becomes single-use artifacts, forgotten. Used once, then too difficult to keep updated for when a new desi...
Feb 02, 2023•59 min•Ep. 168
Journey mapping is reaching its limits. Sure, journey maps and mapping work fine at a small project or team level. But it quickly breaks down when you want to organize around the journey, at a bigger company scale. In order to do this, you need something that goes beyond mapping. But before we dig into what that is, let's look at why journey mapping breaks down: Everyone has their way of doing it; there is no standard. It's hard to get an overview across multiple journeys. Identifying and priori...
Jan 26, 2023•50 min•Ep. 167
Imagine that you'd get the opportunity to join an intimate dinner party. A dinner where you're accompanied by some of the brightest people in our field. And where you'd get the chance to explore a thought-provoking topic. Would you enjoy the evening? That question was going through my mind when I was thinking about how the Circle community should feel. Now, almost two years after the first "dinner party" at the Circle, it's time to take score. So I sat down with two members of the Circle for a f...
Jan 19, 2023•44 min
I have a family with two small kids who are quickly growing up. The challenge many parents, including me, encountered was... how do we keep our home somewhat clean and tidy. My initial and naive strategy was to pick up everything left behind. But this strategy breaks down pretty quickly, as you can imagine. So then I tried to distribute the responsibility to everyone in the family. If everyone does their part, it should be a minor task, right? But of course, it didn't take long before I realized...
Jan 12, 2023•57 min•Ep. 166
This can transform your business strategy... That's what I thought during my recent conversation with Indi Young. Indi recently published a book titled Time to Listen. Here's my summary of the book. It teaches you how to design services that are less harmful, more accessible, and in the end, better for business through the "simple" act of listening. Basically, transforming open and honest conversations with your customers into one of your most valuable assets. But if it's that easy, why isn't ev...
Dec 22, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 165
Let's build a *system* of journey maps! Hold on there... do you know what you're getting yourself into? Journey maps are great. They help you align people, processes, and resources around your customers' needs. This leads to a more efficient organization, happier employees, and less frustrated customers. But as you might have experienced, journey maps also tend to spiral out of control pretty quickly. You start with a simple map that is adequate to get the job done. Then you slowly but surely st...
Dec 16, 2022•57 min
You need to fail... Yes, I said it. Because failure is the fastest way to success when you're innovating. But it's surprisingly hard to fail. And this is a major problem. Why, you ask? Well, in our service design practice, failure is part of prototyping. You have an idea, you create something, you try it in the real world, learn from what happened, and based on that, improve your solution to repeat this process. See what I did there? You try and learn, that's the key. Trying something, you actua...
Dec 08, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 164
When you asked me to play the piano, I can assure you that nothing close to music would come out. Would we, at that point, say that the piano is broken? That would be silly, right? Somehow, this is the typical approach when organizations bring in design. When design doesn't fully deliver on the expected outcomes, it's the process that is declared faulty. Mauro Porcini is the Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo. In his career, he has seen many design-driven initiatives fail, and some succeed. This le...
Nov 24, 2022•50 min•Ep. 163
I'm sure you've heard this before... "You can't design for everyone." That's a fundamental principle in a good design process. In the end, design is all about making choices. And one of these choices is defining who you are designing for. But here's an interesting question: Can you design with a specific user in mind without excluding others? This sounds a lot like a paradox, right? So why bother trying to solve it? Because if we don't, we are creating inequality and harm. This isn't exclusive t...
Nov 10, 2022•53 min•Ep. 162
Think for a moment about a hard conversation you needed to have about a topic that really mattered to you. This could be a conversation at work or just in your private life. Now, what if... that conversation went down in your memory as exciting, productive, and fun? What if it almost felt like a game? Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, according to Fred Dust, that's exactly what's possible and even what's necessary. According to Fred, we have almost entirely lost the ability to have hard c...
Oct 27, 2022•57 min•Ep. 161
Sustainability is the innovation frontier of the 21st century -- and if you don't get on that train, you'll be lost. This quote emerged during the recent conversation with Bhavi Patel and Heydn Ericson on the Show, where we explored the intersection between circular and service design. As it turns out, you, as a service design professional, are in a great position to push a more sustainable approach forward. Yes, even if it's currently not a priority in your organization. In this episode, you'll...
Oct 20, 2022•50 min
Having a seat at the table... That's what we often talk about in the service design field. And I would say rightfully so. Because when you do get involved early, you have the opportunity to influence the direction of a project. On the flip side, you could end up making the perfect solution for the wrong problem when you get involved late. But how do you get your business stakeholder to see and appreciate the strategic value you can bring early on? That was the question Karen Baker and I explored...
Oct 13, 2022•48 min•Ep. 160
What can you expect during the Service Design Global Conference 2022? Vinay Venkatraman is one of the speakers at the conference and in this video, you'll get a sneak preview of his talk. If you want to attend the conference check out the link and discount code down below. [ 1. EPISODE GUIDE ] 00:00 Welcome 01:45 Who is Vinay 03:00 Main topic 04:45 Why this topic 07:15 Key lesson 10:45 Future perspective 13:15 Remember one thing 14:00 Reaching out to Vinay 14:45 Looking forward to 16:30 Closing ...
Oct 06, 2022•17 min
What can you expect during the Service Design Global Conference 2022? In this episode, you'll hear the closing keynote speaker, Christian Bason, share a preview. If you want to attend the conference check out the link and discount code down below. [ 1. EPISODE GUIDE ] 00:00 Welcome 01:45 Who is Christian 03:00 The big idea 05:45 Designing with time 07:45 Who owns the agenda 10:00 Design is future-oriented 12:00 Life-centered design 13:45 The 6 expansions 16:30 The big question 17:15 Looking forw...
Oct 04, 2022•20 min
Here's something everyone knows but companies tend to ignore... It's tough to deliver a great customer experience when your employees are unhappy or unsatisfied. So designing the employee experience is probably just as, if even not more, important than designing the customer experience. Someone who is a strong advocate for this is Marine Bucher, who has made it her mission to design humanity at work. I sat down with Marine to talk about what it actually means to design the employee experience. I...
Sep 29, 2022•54 min•Ep. 159
Let's talk about a service designer's favorite topic... measuring impact. Why is it so d*mn hard!? We'll get to that in a minute. Of course, the idea behind measuring the impact of your work is smart. When done right, it helps you to stay on track. Make sure your efforts actually make a positive contribution. And show you if you need to redirect your efforts to something else. But often, we find that many things inside organizations are measured because they are easy to express in numbers... not...
Sep 22, 2022•49 min
Here's a question you might not think about daily... How is service design practiced in China? I'm always eager to learn about the (subtle) differences in how our field is perceived within different cultures. Why? Because seeing that there are other ways to approach things enriches my perspective and keeps me grounded about my way of working. The goal isn't to copy what's being done in other places but rather to understand its reasoning and philosophy. That's why I was excited to have a conversa...
Sep 15, 2022•57 min•Ep. 158
I could have seen this coming... That's the last thing you want to say when your project isn't going well. To minimize this risk, you'll need to identify red flags early on and work to create conditions for success. But it's challenging to talk about these topics with internal stakeholders before your project begins. People are eager to start; it makes sense. And you don't want to be seen as the one who is delaying things unnecessarily or putting roadblocks up. Before you climb a mountain, it's ...
Sep 08, 2022•49 min
No, it's not the latest shoes... What does it take for a professional athlete to perform at their best? Sure, she needs to have talent and be in top physical shape. But that's not enough. The top performing athletes are, for example, rigorous regarding their sleep, diet, and mental well-being. These things are the foundation for them to deliver a world-class performance. Now, I have a weird assumption. A design professional and an athlete might have more in common than meets the eye. I bet you t...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 157
I wish it were different, but… The reality is that service design still isn’t business as usual. This means that you need to do a lot of evangelizing as part of your job. Getting business stakeholders, clients, and even your colleagues to buy into the value of a human-centered, design-driven way of working. I see that many service design professionals rely on their improvisation skills and hope to come up with the right message at the right time. If you’re lucky, this approach can work, but it’s...
Aug 25, 2022•1 hr 4 min
It's not a secret... Every day we are outsourcing more and more of our decisions to AI algorithms. Some of these decisions are frivolous, like determining if that's a cat in the photo. Other decisions are of much higher stake, like whether you will get that medical treatment. Especially with the last kind of decisions, we'd better ensure that these algorithms are designed and used responsibly. And according to Jillian Powers , service design professionals must play a vital role in this process. ...
Aug 18, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 156
Wouldn't it be great if... Delivering a great customer experience wasn't just a "nice to have" when there's time left but an actual strategic priority that guides decision-making? I'm sure you know many examples of (expensive) service failures that could have been prevented if the voice of the customer had been part of the conversations inside the company. Of course, this is precisely one of the things we try to achieve with service design. The problem is that we often don't yet have the authori...
Aug 04, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 155
Who doesn't want this... To come up with smart solutions for relevant challenges that are immediately embraced by the end-users. Well, in this week's episode of the Show, Victor Udoewa shares a radical approach to the design process that increases the chance you'll actually accomplish this. But first, let's quickly look at why solutions don't get adopted. It's often not due to bad intentions. Many times it has to do with the fact that a wrong judgment call has been made about what's important. B...
Jul 21, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 154
There's no doubt about it... Over the last few years, design has gained a lot of momentum in the business space. It's encouraging to see that design is slowly but surely getting a seat at the table. But at which price has this raise come? And are we willing to pay this price? When you zoom out a bit, you'll quickly notice that it's often the "easy to digest" form of design that is praised, the form where the focus primarily lies on gaining short-term benefits and incremental improvements. While ...
Jul 07, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 153
As a consumer, you use artificial intelligence daily. Just open any app on your phone, and the chances are that AI is somehow embedded within it. The development of AI so far has been driven mainly by engineers and scientists. But have you ever wondered how service design help to shape this powerful new technology? Well, it's not a question that's on my mind daily... But after the recent conversation with Carly Burton , I'm definitely more aware of the opportunity in front of us. As the product ...
Jun 23, 2022•47 min•Ep. 152
How can you enable service designers to deliver their best work? That's coming up in a second but first, imagine this... A wedding where the bride and groom have to take care of all the logistics on the big day itself. Everything from arranging the tables to welcoming the band. There will be little time and space to focus on why they are truly there. Yeah, that's why we have masters of ceremony and wedding planners. These people do all the heavy lifting so that the couple can own the moment. Oka...
Jun 02, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 151
How can service design help in times of crisis? This is one of the questions Max Tkachuk and I explore in this episode. Max lives in Kyiv and is an active member of the service design community in Ukraine. Being a first-hand witness of the war, Max sees how both the local and international service design communities respond to the situation. In this episode you'll learn about: The state of service design in Ukraine. If service design is relevant in times of crisis. What can we, as an internation...
May 26, 2022•54 min•Ep. 150
There's an intriguing mystery to the backstage... Think about it for a moment. People love to see what happens inside the kitchen of a Gordon Ramsey restaurant. Or to follow a sports team into the locker room before and after a game. We want to look over the shoulder and get an inside glimpse. See things that are usually hidden from the general public. We want to see beyond the frontstage. Well, I've got exciting news, because today we're going to do just that. Not for a restaurant or your favor...
May 24, 2022•59 min
I used to say that 50% of service design is about communication. Today I think the percentage might be even higher... Just think about all those moments where you need to collaborate with someone to get something done. Yes, that's like always. *** Learn more about the Circle: https://servicedesignshow.com/circle/ *** Sometimes what you need is the attention from your co-worker other times, it will be time or money from your CEO. Whatever the case is, when you fail to show the benefits your work ...
May 19, 2022•48 min
Every service design project starts with an initial conversation. From there, you build trust, confidence, and the relationship to do great work. But getting that first conversation started can often be one of the hardest things. Especially when you consider that many organizations still aren't aware that service design exists, let alone how they can benefit from it. Of course, you could sit back and wait for the moment when the organization is ready. But this approach will mean that while waiti...
May 12, 2022•58 min•Ep. 149
