Service Design Show

This episode falls into a pattern that's hard to ignore... I'm seeing a growing undercurrent of design leaders strongly advocating for a more sustainable approach toward work and life. It is hard to separate this development from the rise of AI, which is shaping many aspects of our lives and turning what we know upside down. Sure, there's always been a push to do more, and preferably faster and cheaper, but now with AI, it feels like the volume knob has been turned to 11. Of course, this has a significant impact on us as service design professionals. The "productivity" pressure is rising for us as well. And if we're honest, it often reaches a point where it not only takes away the fulfillment we find in our work, but also leaves us on the edge of burnout. But we're humans, not machines. We're not merely replaceable cogs in a system. So we must find an alternative. One of the leaders advocating for this more sustainable approach toward work is our guest, Birgit Geiberger. She argues that in order for us to thrive in this new reality, we must adopt a different leadership style. Birgit says we need to focus on leading with both head and heart in a way she calls regenerative leadership. In this conversation, we unpack what this form of leadership entails and why it's now more important than ever. Birgit offers ideas on how you can push back and escape the unsustainable pace of work when everything and everyone around us seems to demand more, go, go, go. We discuss what you can do on a day-to-day basis to find your grounding and stay true to who you truly are in a world where compromises are unavoidable. And finally, we investigate how you can show that doing things in a regenerative way is not just good for you, but also accelerates and increases your business impact. A great conversation, packed with hope, inspiration, and practical advice for anyone who wants to bring back the joy in their work again. What might be good to know is that I haven't selected my recent guests based on their interest in this theme, or instructed them in any way to discuss it. This is just something that emerges when I ask them to speak about what is dear to their hearts right now. If you've been listening to the Show, I'm curious if you've noticed this undercurrent as well. Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact! ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 249 04:15 Human-Centered Leadership Legacy 06:30 Post-Pandemic Reflections 10:00 Redefining Growth and Resources 13:00 Introduction to Regenerative Leadership 15:00 The Power of Self-Leadership 18:30 Designing for Mental Capacity 22:00 Moving Beyond Short-Term Business Thinking 24:45 Breaking Functional Silos 33:15 Leading through Global Uncertainty 40:15 Service Design as a Cultural Catalyst 47:30 Empathy as a Business Strategic Tool 54:30 Scaling Influence Through Others 1:00:30 Closing Reflections --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/birgitgeiberger --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] https://go.servicedesignshow.com/249-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/249-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/249-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/249-snipd

Let's be real for a moment... In the corporate context, what's the thing that usually gets rewarded the most? It’s often the person who "just" grinds through the chaos, works overtime to fix a broken process, and absorbs all the organizational friction without complaining. From very early on in our careers we are taught to treat ourselves like machines that just need to carry more weight. But as Kara Snyder points out in our conversation, that is treating resilience as output. It’s performing professionalism when you are completely depleted. And it is a fast track to burnout. Instead, Kara challenges us to think about resilience as capacity. What do you actually need to sustain yourself so you can stay in this deeply human and emotionally demanding work? Because at the end of the day, the most important tool in your service design toolkit isn't a journey map or a blueprint... well, it's you. In this episode of Inside Service Design, I sit down with Kara and Siddhartha Saxena to talk about the inner game of being an in-house service design professional. We step away from the frameworks and talk about how to actually survive and thrive in this beautifully complex role. This conversation touches on topics like: So if you’ve been feeling the weight of driving positive change using service design, take a deep breath, slow down, and tune into this one. How do you protect your own capacity? Have you found any specific rituals particularly helpful? Let me know, I’d love to hear how you're dealing with this. Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to the January 2026 Round Up! 03:30 Kara’s Journey: From Accounting to PWC 06:30 Facing Burnout and Personal Loss 09:00 Sidd’s Journey: From Architecture to Startups 11:30 Discovering Service Design as a Business Bridge 12:30 Remote Healthcare in India 14:00 Designing the "Nervous System" of an Organization 15:45 Navigating Complexity 19:00 Why Service Design Feels Like the "Wild West" 19:50 Tool Spotlight: Using the Emotional Culture Deck 21:30 Moving from Doing to Being 24:00 Resilience in Startups vs. Corporate Safety 26:15 How Personal Grief Shapes Professional Perspective 31:15 The Gap Between Self and Work 34:30 Why Service Designers are Natural "Absorbers" 38:30 Building a Protective Layer Against Burnout 41:15 Mapping the Invisible Organizational Nervous System 44:45 Managing Design at Scale 48:15 When to Say "No" to the Machine 52:30 The Power of Invisible Labor 56:15 Measuring the Value of What Can't Be Seen 59:00 Protecting Your Design Culture from Company Culture 1:00:15 Final Takeaways --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/karamartinsnyder/https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddhartha-saxena --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle [4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-10-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-10-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-10-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-10-snipd

It’s the one thing they didn't teach in design school... We spend years learning how to understand what drives our users, map out complex journeys, and deliver useful service prototypes. But when it comes time to sit down with business stakeholders, compliance teams, or yes even legal departments? That’s when the friction sets in. For this episode, we're joined by Belén Tello, who has a very interesting take on how we can overcome this struggle. As the Head of Design for the largest bank in Peru, Belén leads a massive team of over 150 designers. As you might imagine, because they operate in the highly regulated financial sector, they are constantly in negotiations with the rest of the business. Over the years, Belen has experienced firsthand that even the most talented design professionals often freeze up when talking to their business partners. To our own demise, we often retreat to our comfort zones, simply handing over the work and letting the business decide whether it's "good or not". Deep down, we sometimes feel like the business folks just know more than we do (not the case!). To fix this confidence gap, Belén started doing something quite radical, at least for design teams. Before a big stakeholder meeting, she runs "role play" sessions with her team. Yes, almost like lawyers preparing for a mock trial! They sit down and strategize. What do you want to say here? Who are your strongest stakeholders? Do you need me to step in and ask a specific question so you can explain your rationale? Add to that that she's been helping her team learn to speak the "common language" of the bank. And that language? It's numbers and data, obviously. As you'll hear Belén argues that we already do the hard work of gathering qualitative and quantitative insights, but we frequently fail to actually bring that data to the table in a convincing way. When you stop arguing based on subjective perception and start negotiating with facts, everything changes. You move away from being seen as just an "add-on" to the process and finally become a true strategic partner. So if you've ever felt that imposter syndrome kick in during a big meeting, this episode is pretty much a masterclass in building your confidence and growing your influence. As you listen to the episode, I’d love for you to reflect on your own work. How often are you actively translating your insights into a language the business understands? And what would help you to do that more often? Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 248 05:00 Banking in Peru: Education over digital tools 09:00 The danger of designing only for the capital city 17:30 Negotiating with Legal and Compliance 21:00 Using data to find a common business language 23:00 Why designers struggle to speak up in business 27:00 Prepping for stakeholders like a mock trial 28:45 Finding internal sponsors who understand design 33:30 Quantifying design's impact on the business 36:15 Redesigning 200+ physical branches 41:00 Moving from transactional to relational models 45:30 Connecting with rural users 51:15 Using design's systemic view as an unfair advantage 55:30 Why listening is a designer's true superpower 58:00 Positioning design strategically 1:00:30 Closing thoughts --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/belen-tello-91028731/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle --- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/248-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/248-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/248-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/248-snipd

Are we being left behind... Let's think about this for a moment. Architects have AutoCAD. Finance folks have Excel. Sales teams have Salesforce. The list goes on. But what do we as service design professionals have? If we're a bit cynical, you could say that often it’s a wall of sticky notes (that the cleaners throw away at night). This brings up a deep and often unspoken insecurity in our field. Could it be that our work is seen as "fluffy" or "invisible" because we lack the "hard" tools that other departments have? That is the provocative question Maxe van Heeswijk brought to the Circle community recently. She challenged us to think about whether having "our own software" would help us claim our territory and be taken more seriously by stakeholders. But to which extent can a tool be the answer to our problems? Will Sharples joined the conversation with a different take. He argues that stakeholders don't actually care about our process or our "proper" service design tools, they just want their problems solved. So in this episode of Inside Service Design, we explore this tension between wanting to be "seen" as experts and the messy reality of getting work done in-house. This conversation is packed with spicy topics like: So, if you’ve ever felt like you’re doing important work... that nobody sees, this episode is for you. What do you feel is the service design tool at the moment? Do we even have one? Let me know, I’m really curious to hear your take! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to December Round Up 01:00 Meet the Guests 04:00 From Physical Engineering to Digital Services 06:30 From Philosophy & Advertising to SD 10:15 Balancing Financial Goals vs. Trust 15:15 Securing Long-Term Funding 18:00 Why Patience is a Superpower 21:45 Thought Experiment 26:30 Do We Need Professional Software? 35:00 Is Design Too Democratized 44:15 Relationship Building is Slow Farming 51:00 Pragmatism vs. The Design Bibles 52:45 The Hidden Skill 55:45 Navigating Company Politics 59:30 Wrap-Up --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxevanheeswijk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-sharples-85a40580/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- If you're an in-house service design professional and want to learn from the stories of your peers, take a look at the Circle, it might just be the thing you're looking for. Join our private community for in-house service design professionals: ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle --- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-09-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-09-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-09-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-09-snipd

If you look at the current job market, you might notice something strange... The words "service design" seem to be slowly disappearing from job titles. Does that mean our field is shrinking, or worse, becoming obsolete? Well, according to our guest, Giulia Di Gregorio, that's definitely not the case. If anything, the opposite is true. Giulia argues that while the titles might be vanishing, the practice is actually spreading. Service design is everywhere now; it's just hiding under different names. But this "diversification" creates a new challenge. If everyone has a different job title, where do you find your professional peers? Where's that safe space where you can get together to commiserate, find inspiration, and learn from each other? That's what Giulia and a few folks were thinking as well. But instead of just thinking about it they rolled up their sleeves and decided to revive Service Design Drinks Milan. This didn't become just another meetup; it became a "pirate version" of a community. And it’s been a pretty successful one. In this conversation, we explore what it looks like to run a community that's driven by volunteers, has no hierarchy, and is governed by the energy people actually have to give. We also talk about building "synergies" with other communities instead of acting like isolated islands. And we dig into why the best way to scale might be through small, independent nodes across the world rather than one big centralized network. So if you’ve been feeling a bit "homeless" in your service design role lately, this is a great conversation about reclaiming your identity and connecting with your tribe. What stuck with me is the idea that when a project starts feeling like "work," you might be heading in the wrong direction and should reconsider your options. Something to think about both in our professional context as well as in our passion projects. Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact! ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 247 07:30 Flat Hierarchies & Freedom 09:30 Global Nodes vs. Centralized Networks 13:30 The Toolkit Takeover 17:45 Managing by Time 23:15 Pirates vs. The Navy 27:30 The Cost of Being Brave 31:45 The Un-conferenced Model 36:30 Turning Points: From Branding to COVID 43:00 Learning Effortless Leadership 48:00 How to Start Your Own Pirate Node 55:30 Question to ponder on --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/giulialogodigregorio/https://www.linkedin.com/company/service-design-drinks-milanhttps://creativemornings.com/cities/mil --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] https://go.servicedesignshow.com/247-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/247-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/247-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/247-snipd

A few months ago I finally hit a major milestone... After years of putting it off, I finally started taking golf lessons. Jasper, my coach (or "pro" as they say in the golf world), has been helping me develop a proper swing. But being me, I just can't help but look at Jasper through a service design lens. What is he actually selling me? Or better yet: what am I actually buying? Right now, I pay by the hour. That buys me Jasper’s time and a bit of grass to practice on. But what if I didn’t pay for the service, which is just time well saved, but rather for the outcome? What if Jasper promised to take me from someone who barely knows how to hold a club to being a confident, competent golfer? Because in the end, that’s truly the identity shift I’m actually looking for. Just think about how much that proposition would change the dynamics, not just for me, but for Jasper’s entire business model. When that offer is on the table, why would I ever settle for a coach selling me "practice time" (a commodity) when I could invest in the transformation I actually desire? This shift toward "transformations" as an economic offering isn't new. It was already described in the industry defining book The Experience Economy back in 1999. We’ve been lucky enough to have Joe Pine, the book’s co-author, on the Show twice before. Now, he’s back. It’s been 27 years since he published the book that influenced so many of us, and he has just published the long-awaited follow-up titled, you guessed it, The Transformation Economy. In this episode, we sit down to chat about what this shift means for us as service design professionals and what it means for the future of business. I’m fairly certain this is the very first podcast where Joe discusses the new book, so we’ve got a true exclusive on our hands. So will this be the next chapter for our field? Listen to the episode to find out! As you listen to the conversation, I’d love for you to think about your own projects. Are you designing for "time well spent," or are you ready to guide your customers through a real identity shift? Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 246 04:45 Why the book is still relevant 06:15 Progression of Economic Value 11:00 Defining economic offerings 13:00 Birth of the Transformation Economy 17:30 Experience vs. Transformation 20:30 Focusing on the "Aspirant" 22:00 Time Saved vs. Time Well Spent 25:00 Experience design examples 27:00 Novelty and social bonding 31:15 Investment for time 32:30 Turning experiences into change 34:30 Service vs. Experience design 37:30 Moving to transformations 38:30 The power of intentionality 40:45 Using reflection to add value 43:30 Changing your identity 44:45 Goal: Human flourishing 47:30 What it means to flourish 49:30 Satisfaction vs. improvement 50:45 The drive for better 51:30 Designing for transformation 54:00 Transformative learning 56:30 The Golf Coach story 01:00:15 The new book release 01:01:00 Key takeaway from Joe Pine 01:02:45 Final thoughts --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepine/https://strategichorizons.combook --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] https://go.servicedesignshow.com/246-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/246-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/246-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/246-snipd

Imagine a world where you can simply look at your journey model and ask it why... Why, for example, is our customer churn spiking this quarter? How close are we to that reality? I invited my good friend ​Jochem van der Veer​, CEO of TheyDo, back onto the show to find out. It’s become a bit of a tradition to start the year with Jochem, looking back at our past predictions and setting the stage for what’s next in the world of Journey Management. Not so long ago, "Journey Management" was really just an emerging term. Fast forward to today, and I think it's fair to say that the conversation has shifted entirely. We're seeing organizations big and small adopt this practice as a framework that drives real business decisions. In last year's episode, Jochem predicted that by now we’d be able to ask our journeys "Why?" and get instant (and meaningful) answers. In this conversation, we discuss how the technology has arrived and why "Journey Anarchy" is the new hurdle we have to clear. Next, we play a round of "Objection Bingo" where we address the most common roadblocks we hear every day that stand in the way of wider adoption of journey management. From "we don't have the data" to the classic "It’s too expensive". And of course, Jochem shares some practical strategies to help you overcome these roadblocks when you encounter them. Finally, Jochem makes some spicy predictions for 2026. Like the emergence of a completely new role in the CX space. So, if you want to stay one step ahead and hear where our field is heading, this is the conversation for you. I would love to know: how do you feel about the state of journey management heading into 2026? A) Mostly "meh" B) Excited! C) Something else... Leave a comment (if you're on Spotify). Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 245 05:30 Revisiting 2025 Predictions 10:00 The One Question Most Marketers Forget to Ask 12:45 Role of Human Judgment vs. AI Clues 14:30 4-Step Journey Framework for 2026 17:00 Why Journey Mapping is "Dead" 21:15 #1 Reason Companies Fail at Implementation 24:45 The "Journey Anarchy" Crisis 28:00 improving decision making 31:00 How Siloed Teams Kill Revenue 38:30:00 Another Objection: "It's Too Expensive" 42:30 Objection Bingo: Flipping the Script on Stakeholder Pushback 46:15 Wildcard: AI Agents vs. Simple Chatbowildcard: AI 48:45 Credit Card/Budget Reality Check 53:00 Predictions for 2026 54:15 Shift from Efficiency Cuts to Innovation Growth 57:00 Why "Operationalizing Empathy" is the New Competitive Edge 58:00 Other Challenges to Watch for in 2026 59:30 Near Real-Time Journey Monitoring 1:03:00 The 10 Million Dollar Problem 1:05:00 Connect with Jochem --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jochemvanderveerhttps://open.spotify.com/show/4M2BsaT4jC5Oz54eyek0SZhttps://www.theydo.com/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] https://go.servicedesignshow.com/245-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/245-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/245-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/245-snipd

Sorry, but I have to say it... We are optimizing our way to boredom. Measure everything, test every variation, and optimize the customer journey until it’s "perfect". That seems to be the mantra of modern business today. But in this first episode of 2026, our guest ​Kendra Shimmell​ throws a big wrench in this machinery. Kendra argues that while things like A/B testing validate what works right now, they often come at a steep cost. Because if we rely solely on reacting to quantitative data to make small, incremental improvements, we eventually, you guessed it, optimize our way to mediocrity and boredom. We lose the soul in our services. Kendra shares a painful example of this phenomenon in action: social media algorithms. You click on a cool backpack once, and the system thinks it has you figured out. Suddenly, your entire feed is just backpacks. A lot of backpacks. The algorithm is "optimized," sure. But it has stripped away all the serendipity, turning a place of discovery into a repetitive, boring experience. As Kendra put it, just because you can keep a user clicking doesn't mean you aren't exhausting them. So, the question is: Why do organizations default to this? Why are we so focused on squeezing out efficiency rather than exploring new avenues? When I asked Kendra, her answer was blunt: "Greed, Fear, and Confusion." Ouch. The greed to squeeze out the last 1% of revenue. The fear that if they try something new, they won't find product-market fit again. And the confusion that comes from ignoring the fact that humans are wildly irrational beings driven by feelings, not spreadsheets. This conversation is a wake-up call to stop treating our customers like subjects in a scientific experiment and start treating them as people to co-create with. And if your organization isn't ready to hear that? Well, Kendra has some advice on how to be a little "sneaky" to get the work done anyway! The conversation ends with a question that pairs perfectly with a long walk, somewhere where you can let a little serendipity back into your day: "When, where, and how is it most important to be human?". Happy New Year and keep making a positive impact! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 244 04:30 Why We Need Co-Creation Over Experimentation 08:30 The Twitch Lesson 14:30 Why Excessive Optimization Leads to "Beige" 16:03 Social Media & the Algorithm 23:45 Backpack Rabbit Hole 25:30 3 Forces of Stagnation 32:30 Funding Analogous Thinking 35:00 Creating Space for Change 38:30 The Compliance Pilot Strategy 44:15 MVW (Minimum Viable Working Model) 45:45 Permission vs. Action 48:45 Moments of irrationality: taxes vs buying 52:45 Doing Things Better vs. Doing Better Things 56:15 Living Inside the Algorithm 58:15 Why We Must Learn to be Bored Again 1:01:45 The Role of the "Human in the Loop" in the Age of AI 1:04:15 Case Study: Designing for Distance 1:06:15 Question to ponder --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendrashimmell/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle --- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/244-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/244-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/244-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/244-snipd

We need to talk about the "intern" sitting on your desktop... Come on, you know the one. Sure, they are fast, very eager to please, and can process data at lightning speeds. But they also have a bad habit of hallucinating facts and making things up just to make you happy. Of course, I’m talking about AI. It is fair to say that we are past the initial "wow" phase of generative AI. Now, for us service design professionals, the real question is: How do we actually hire, train, and trust this new digital colleague? That is the focus of this episode of our Inside Service Design series. We sit down for a chat with two brilliant professionals: Jessica Dugan and Judith Buhmann. They share a grounded, hype-free look at how they are integrating AI into their own existing workflows. Not as a replacement for our work, but as a "Junior Associate" who needs some (sometimes a lot) management. To make this real, Jess walks us through the framework she uses for building her own custom AI agents. She explains how to define their "persona," scope their tasks, and curate their knowledge base so they can actually be useful (and safe). And Judith shares a critical perspective on why we can’t fully trust AI yet. We explore why we need to treat AI as an "unreliable narrator" especially when working with vulnerable groups. So if you are feeling a bit somewhat by the pressure to "use AI" but aren't sure how to do it responsibly, this conversation has some key insights you don't want to miss. Here's a question: If you had to give your current AI tools a "performance" review, what rating would you give them? A) Employee of the month B) Promising intern (needs supervision) C) Chaos agent (fires random info at me). Let me know, I’m really curious where we are all at! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to the November Round Up 04:00 Jess's journey into service desig 09:45 Judith's challenge 12:30 Designing for the employee experience and internal systems 14:00 The "Pros" of in-house service design 15:30 The necessity of patience and deep knowledge for in-house success 18:30 Judith topic 19:00 Jess topic: Building (and trusting) your own AI agent 23:00 Why we cannot fully trust any AI 27:00 Scoping the AI agent's role and understanding user need 29:00 Designing the "Human" side: Setting personality and tone for your agent 33:45 Accessibility: Is it actually hard to build your own agent? 35:30 Human-in-the-loop: Regulation and ensuring data accuracy 40:00 Why transparency matters more than just "trust" 47:00 Getting organizational buy-in for AI tools 54:45 Markers of success: How service blueprints live on after the workshop 56:30 Closing thoughts and Question to Ponder --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithbuhmann/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jess-dugan/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle --- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-08-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-08-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-08-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-08-snipd

Sure, design might be going through a tough period... But as the saying goes, "never waste a good crisis." So this moment of uncertainty, where everyone is wondering if (or rather when) AI will take over their job, might actually be our biggest opportunity to rise up. It is a unique chance to reclaim our core focus of designing services that genuinely improve people's lives, rather than just extracting value to maximize shareholder returns. Of course to discuss an existential topic like this we had to find someone who's been around the block for some time. And boy did we find someone! For this episode we sit down with the legendary Dan Saffer to chat about what we can learn from the last two decades of design evolution. We try to wrap our heads around what caused the erosion of strategic design from its heyday, which, frankly, wasn't even that long ago. We look into how we somehow got identified with the outputs, like running workshops or creating interfaces in Figma, rather than the outcomes. And more importantly, what we can do to prevent that from happening again, whether that’s with journey management or crafting smart prompts. And finally we also tackle the big question of why design isn't having a greater influence on the current wave of AI, and how we can change that. So bring your cassette player for this one, because we're going back in time for some nostalgia and a healthy dose of hope. Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact! ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 243 03:00 Why Design Has Failed the Enterprise 07:15 Defining a 'Well-Designed Service' 11:00 4 Stages of Design Maturity 13:45 The Critical Challenge of Design at Scale 16:30 Debunking the Myth being Design as a 'Luxury' 19:30 Is Service Design an Attitude or a Practice? 20:45 Impact of Cloud & Mobile on Design Challenges 23:15 Designing for the 'Cloud Age' 29:00 Service Design vs. Interaction Design 31:45 Focus on the System, Not Just the Artifact 35:00 The Challenge of Hiring True System-Level Designers 37:30 Moving Design from Extractive to Generative 44:45 Only Way to Win Is to Not Play the Game 48:15 Driving Organizational Change Through Design Culture 52:45 Why Designers Burn Out 56:45 How to Measure the Impact of Generative Design 1:00:00 Why AI is a People Problem 1:03:15 What Makes a Great Design Leader? 1:06:15 The Essential Mindset Shift for Modern Design Leadership 1:09:15 The Great Opportunity of AI in Service Design 1:13:45 Final Takeaway 1:14:15 Question to Ponder --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansaffer/https://blueskydirectory.com/profiles/odannyboy.bsky.socialhttps://medium.com/ui-for-ai/welcome-to-ui-for-ai-eb22aef8d26c --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle --- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/243-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/243-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/243-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/243-snipd

Here is a hot take, empathy is becoming "theater"... I mean, it's that feeling you get when you receive a "hyper-personalized" yet clearly automated email saying "We are so deeply sorry to see you go". To me, it just feels insincere. Actually, it even feels manipulative. Instead of a genuine connection, it’s a performance designed to "manage" me, not help me. As every business out there is in a race to automate and integrate AI, the actual human connection is often the first thing to get outsourced. And when we try to paste humanity back onto technology, we often end up in a digital uncanny valley. So, how do we push back? How do we remain "stubbornly human" when the systems around us only care about efficiency? That is the battle we explore in the latest episode of our Inside Service Design series. In this conversation, I sit down with two service design professionals from very different worlds: ​Jeff​, who works in the highly digital fintech space, and ​Emilie​, an Innovation Partner at a faith-based nonprofit. Despite their different contexts, they share some great insights on keeping the "human" in human-centered design. Jeff breaks down the concept of Empathy Theater and challenges us to spot when a friendly tone in a digital interface crosses the line into manipulation. And Emilie walks us through a future scenario where VR headsets are the default for education, forcing us to ask: how do we design for belonging when we are physically apart? So, if you are tired of seeing the human element get optimized out of existence, this conversation will give you some strong arguments you need to stand your ground. Quick question: Have you received an email recently that felt like "Empathy Theater"? If yes, send me a quick reply with "Guilty" (bonus points if you can share the example)! I'm trying to get a sense of how widespread this is becoming. Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact. Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to October Round Up 05:00 Emilie's Service Design Journey 07:30 Jeff from Interior Design to FinTech 12:30 Jeff's Biggest In-House Design Challenge 15:00 Challenges in Non-Profit Design 18:00 Emilie's True Measure of Success 20:00 How Jeff Measures Success in Long-Term Projects 25:00 Emilie's topic: Education in 2038 29:00 Jeff's topic: Keep Things 'Stubbornly Human' 33:45 The Circle Reacts to Insincere Digital Tone 36:45 How Emilie's group responded 39:00 Emilie's Hopeful Reflection on the Future of Design 40:00 The Practical Tweak Jeff Made 43:00 Emilie's #1 Hard-Won Career Lesson 45:30 Jeff's Hard-Won Lesson in Service Design 46:30 When Jeff Stopped Focusing on Deliverables 51:00 Why Beautiful Artifacts Don't Impress Executives 53:00 How to Stop the Treadmill 54:30 Emilie's Question to the Audience 55:30 Jeff Answers the Question He Wants to Ask 57:30 Emilie Answers Her Own Deep Question 59:00 Final words of wisdom --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilie-moravechttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhoekwater --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle --- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-07-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-07-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-07-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-07-snipd

We often hear the "mantra" to move fast and break things... But what happens when the thing that breaks is you? For many service design professionals, this is the reality of their calendar: back-to-back meetings, a rush to deliver, and very little space to actually think. In many organizations, there is a culture that views this busyness as a badge of honor. But our guest in this episode, Rachael Dietkus, has quite a different -and healthier- approach. She has a rule written on a post-it note right next to her desk: "No meetings before 10 AM". This might sound like a luxury, doesn't it? But Rachael, who's a licensed clinical social worker and designer, argues that rules like this are actually a professional necessity. Rachael is the founder of Social Workers Who Design, where she is bridging the gap between the deep, ethical frameworks of social work and the often frantic pace of design. This is an eye-opening episode where we explore why service design might be missing a "manual" that social workers have had for decades. You'll hear about: So, if you sometimes feel the weight of the work is getting too much and you're looking for ways to create a healthier, more sustainable work environment, this conversation offers practical clues. As we are almost wrapping up the year, it's an important reminder that reflection on our work isn't a nice to have, but a healthy habit we should all embrace. Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact. Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 242 04:00 Making Care an Integral Part of Practice 09:00 Recognizing Care (or the Lack Thereof) in Project Pacing 14:00 Difference Between 'Careless' and 'Care-full' Design 17:30 How Rachel's Path to Care Began 26:30 Human Rights and Social Work Foundation 38:45 What Design Can Learn from Social Work 46:15 Radical Act of Slowing Down 52:30 Practical Steps to Build Spaciousness & Combat Workaholism 57:45 Setting Boundaries 1:01:15 Boundaries as Professional Resistance 1:03:45 Takeaway She Hopes You Get 1:05:15 Piece of Advice 1:05:45 Question to ponder --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaeldietkuslcswhttps://www.socialworkerswho.design/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle --- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/242-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/242-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/242-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/242-snipd

Okay, we are pretty good storytellers... but are we telling the right story? As service design professionals, we nail it when it comes to what I call "Horizontal Storytelling". We can walk anyone through the customer journey, step-by-step, building empathy for the user's pain and frustration over time. But here is the somewhat inconvenient truth: As you might have experienced, your CEO or CFO often doesn't know what to do with that story. They are looking for something else. They need "Vertical Storytelling". They need to know how a specific pain point on the ground connects up to the strategic objectives of the business. They need to know the ROI. They need to know if the needle is actually moving. In episode 8 of the Journey Management Playbook series, Tingting Lin and I are closing the loop. We are moving from doing the work to measuring the impact. If you’ve ever struggled to justify prove that your journey management efforts are actually influencing the bottom line, this episode is for you. We dive into: This episode provides the missing link between "making mapping a journey" and "driving business outcomes." What is the one metric you struggle to track the most? Send me a reply or leave a comment on YouTube, we’d love to know where the biggest data hurdles are for you. Enjoy and keep making a positive impact! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. LINKS 🔗 ] --- 👉 Playbook Slides - ✅ Sign up for TheyDo - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/scjwb --- [ 2. GUIDE ] --- 01:00 What's in store episode 08 03:45 Power of Vertical Storytelling 05:30 Proving Your Journey Map Worth the Investment 07:00 Biggest Mistake People Make in Journey Mapping 11:00 When a Simple Insight Changes Everything 16:30 'Horizontal' View vs. the 'Vertical' 23:00 How to Operationalize Your Journey Map 25:00 Start Small, But Map the Full Customer Story 26:00 Closing the Loop and Feedback Mechanisms 30:00 Summary: 3 Pillars of a Successful Journey Strategy 31:34 Differentiating Horizontal and Vertical Stories 33:00 Overcoming Internal Resistance to New Mapping 36:00 Stakeholders as customers 38:45 Translating Empathy into Actionable Design 39:45 Mapping an Employee Onboarding Journey 45:00 Debunking misconceptions 50:30 Software and Resources We Recommend 54:45 Second Essential Technique 58:00 Final Takeaways & Last-Minute Advice 1:00:00 5 Practical Tips You Can Implement Today --- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-08-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-08-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-08-snipdhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-08-youtube

Service design, so what... That's a question still many people around us (rightfully) ask. And let's be honest, they'll probably keep asking it for the foreseeable future. It will take a very long time before our field becomes a household name, which I doubt it ever will. Now, it’s easy to get frustrated about this, to roll our eyes every time someone questions the value of our work. But that frustration isn't going to get us any closer to creating the impact we know we can. A much more productive approach is to prepare for these questions, to have our answers ready before they even get asked. This also helps us to better recognize when we end up in situations where, no matter what we say or do, our message about service design just stand a chance of resonating. We do everyone a favor by acknowledging this. Sometimes it's just not the right place or the right time. But where do we learn which stories to tell, when and to whom, and which stories we should avoid? Well, we can take some clues from Mark Howell, our guest this in this episode. Mark is a seasoned professional who's led some of the largest in-house service design teams I've heard of. This achievement becomes even more impressive when you consider he did this in industries not exactly known for their human-centered thinking. In our conversation, we explore how Mark used tools like a "service design quality assessment" to have the right conversations with stakeholders. We talk about how he learned to identify the red flags that signal it's time to find a different project, and we dig into the key role community plays in building a successful service design practice. I'm really excited about this episode because we just don't have many examples of people who have scaled service design teams to these kinds of numbers. And we have even fewer who are willing to share the real learnings from that journey. So, if you have the ambition to grow service design, this is a fantastic conversation to get some best practices and hear about the pitfalls to avoid. What stuck with me from our chat is recognizing that sometimes you need to take a step back instead of just trying to push forward (and burning out in the process). I would love to hear from you: What's a key signal for you? What's the clue that gives away that it's time to stop pushing and find a different battle? Enjoy and keep making a positive impact! ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 241 05:00 Positioning Service Designers 09:00 Cracking the Organizational Nut 13:30 the 3 disciplines to drive perspective 20:00 His Take on Journey Mapping 25:30 Lessons Learned 29:00 The Red Flags of a Failing Project 31:45 How to Spot Red Flags 34:30 The 4 Quality Indicators 40:00 Defining the Indicators 46:00 Collecting Design Quality Data 48:30 The Design Community of Practice 56:45 Aligning with Product Manager OKRs 1:02:00 Question to ponder --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/markhowell-phd --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] https://go.servicedesignshow.com/241-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/241-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/241-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/241-snipd

Have you ever thought about... What a therapist, a grandma, and an organ donor teach you about service design? I know, this might sound like the start of a strange joke, but it gets to the heart of a big truth about our work. We invest a lot of time perfecting our journey maps, blueprints, and personas. But as we know, the challenges we work on won't be solved by a deliverable. They're solved through invisible "tools" like subtle influence, creating space for others, and building strategic relationships. So, where do you find these tools? Well, this episode is a great start. This episode is part of our "Inside Service Design" series, where we explore the real, unpolished practice of driving change from within organizations. And just like in the previous episodes you get to hear two brilliant in-house professionals, share some of their most powerful, non-traditional strategies. This time we're joined by Irina Damascan and Gina Mendolia. Gina walks us through her concept of "Setting the Trap" for engagement, and how she draws inspiration from the roles of therapists, coaches, and even grandmas to master the art of creating space and enabling teams to connect the dots themselves. Irina introduces a powerful model for influence she calls the "Organ Donor Chain," a strategic way to build networks of reciprocity by doing "favors" that enable change across the organization, often in unexpected ways. I have to say, it was refreshing to hear about effective mental models that go beyond design-as-usual, which aren't just theories but truly help to design better services. Want to add some (unconventional) tools that help you drive change to your toolkit? Grab your notebook and join us for this conversation. What's the most unconventional place you've found inspiration for your work? Maybe a different profession, a hobby, a movie? Share your inspiration in the comments on YouTube and let's continue the conversation there. Keep making a positive impact! ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome 04:30 Who is Ben 06:00 How Heydn got his role 07:15 What Heydn is currently doing 08:15 Ben working at a financial services firm 10:15 who Ben is reporting to 11:30 where Autodesk sits 13:15 what a good looks like for Heydn 16:30 indicators of success 17:30 what success looks like for Ben 23:30 Why Context Determines Your SD Strategy 27:00 Ben's topic: the first 90 days 30:45 Heydn's key takeaway 35:00 Making Your Map Complicated on Purpose 37:00 Ben's takeaway 43:00 the last time he has done the first 90 days 46:45 Heydn reacting 48:45 Learning things the hard way 51:00 Ben's hard lessons 55:00 what keeps him motivated 57:30 what will Heydn get back there 1:00:00 Ben to summarize 1:00:30 Heydn's final words of wisdom --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/heydnhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/benmccammon/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-06-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-06-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-06-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-06-snipd

We've got a serious problem... The "higher" you climb on the career ladder, the further removed you get from the actual discipline of design. Unfortunately, it's a story I hear surprisingly often. A design professionals finally gets that hard-earned seat at the table, and almost immediately, the pressure to conform kicks in. They start to feel like they have to trade their unique perspective for a corporate persona, leaving their design identity, the very thing that got them there in the first place, at the door. Our guest this week, Jose Coronado, shares a personal story that actually goes right to the heart of this issue. When he first moved to the U.S. he consciously separated his professional life from his Hispanic background in an effort to belong and be seen. The shift only came years later, after he organized a panel for Hispanic Heritage Month. The feedback he received hit him hard. People told him, "Jose, thank you for doing this. I have never seen myself reflected in my future as a potential leader in the design field". That experience was the moment he realized the power of bringing our "whole self" to work, and the danger of hiding parts of our identity. So in this episode, we explore this identity crisis. How do you evolve into a business leader without abandoning your design soul? And I can already share that it's not about renouncing your craft, but rather enriching it with new layers. It’s about learning to navigate the politics and negotiations of an organization while still proudly carrying the flag for design. If you feel trapped between the design professional you are and the leader you're expected to be, this one will surely resonate. What I loved about this conversation is the nuance it brings. I'm sure you've heard that "designers need to speak business" but what's often missing is the crucial second half of that advice, we must do it with our design expertise, identity, and skills. Business speak should enrich design, not replace it. Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact! ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 240 04:00 The great shift 06:00 The catalyst 08:00 Design Leadership and Why We Have to Talk About It 09:30 Design's Growing Pains 12:00 3 Levels of Leadership 13:00 Craftsmanship, Stagemanship, and Statesmanship 16:00 Mastering Stagemanship: 17:45 What we're doing wrong 20:00 Developing Business Fluency 22:00 Understanding the context 26:30 Low-Effort Ways to Gain Business Knowledge 33:00 The Challenge of Invisibility 35:00 Patience vs. Incompetence 37:45 Building Trust 39:00 The Design Measurement Problem 41:00 Tangibility of Impact 44:00 Navigating conversations like that 46:45 Finance Conversations 48:00 Connecting Process, Service Improvement, and Design 51:45 Internal Struggle and Mindset Evolution 55:00 Embracing out identity 57:30 Maintaining Connection to the Craft 59:00 Deliver in commitment 1:01:00 Question to ponder --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/josecoronado/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] https://go.servicedesignshow.com/240-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/240-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/240-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/240-snipd

Here's the big problem with journey maps... It's often like you've composed a masterpiece, but no one is there to actually play it. This is what I feel when I see a carefully crafted map (our version of "music on paper"), which ultimately fails to make an impact. Sure, we do the research, map the insights, and identify opportunities, but on Monday morning, everyone just goes back to their old routines, checking off to-do items in Jira, ClickUp, or Asana. The map becomes an impressive visual, but it's disconnected from the way work is done. This is the implementation gap, and it's where most journey management efforts fail. So in episode 7 of the Journey Management Playbook series, Tingting Lin and I address this exact problem head-on. This isn't a guide about what to map rather, it's about how to plug your insights into the operational reality of your organization. We're moving beyond the theory and into the practical, day-to-day workflow. I even share my own project management setup, share how things get done in my business and we discuss how to bridge the gap between my project list and the customer journey. In this episode, you'll hear: * Why creating a "parallel workflow" for journey management is a recipe for failure. * How to "plug into" your organization's existing ceremonies. * A practical way to reverse-engineer your team's current project backlog and to connect it back to the journey. * The right way to use prioritization matrixes to spark stakeholder conversations and grow alignment. So if you want to make your journeys the driving force behind your daily decisions, not just another document lost on a hard drive or fading away on the wall, make sure you don't miss this one. --- [1. LINKS ] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/-sofmhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/scjwb --- [ 2. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to TheyDo EP 07 02:00 Implementation gap 03:00 Defining the Operational Workflow 06:00 The Practical Challenge 09:00 Connecting the Triple Diamond to the Music Metaphor 12:45 Understanding the big picture 15:30 Connecting the churn-reduction journey map 16:30 Journey Management to Project Management 19:30 Modeling initiatives in TheyDo to show a successful integration approach 21:30 How to Model Initiatives in TheyDo for Journey Linkage 24:00 Linking Initiatives to Opportunities/Journeys 25:30 Scoring Initiatives by Impact and Effort 28:00 Connecting Discovery (TheyDo) to Delivery (ClickUp/JIRA) 30:15 Context in the Journey Tool 32:00 Bi-directional Synchronization 34:00 How to set up the connectio 35:45 Understanding the Organizational Workflow 37:30 Handoffs between the Triple Diamond Workflow 39:00 How to Implement the Workflow 41:00 The needed Cultural shift 42:00 Impact driven language 44:30 How to handle non-journey work 47:00 The Workflow is not a Designer's Job Alone 49:00 Recap: The 4 steps 50:30 Journey of the Journey Manager 54:30 Journey Framework for Strategic Alignment 56:30 Ensuring Business Value 58:00 Scaling and Governance 1:02:30 Coming Up Next --- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-07-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-07-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-07-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-07-snipd

What is the thing biggest stopping you from doing meaningful work... When I listen to the service design professionals around me, it's often not the tools or methods they have access to. Rather, and you might recognize this, its often the organizational culture that's the biggest roadblock. Culture isn't the set of company values that are displayed on the wall. If only things were so simple Culture is materialized by actions. It's made up of the lived experiences of the people doing the work day in and day out. So, if the existing org culture is a roadblock, how can we change it? Because as we know, if there is one thing that's great at resisting change, it's culture. And do we even have a place here as service design professionals. Isn't this the field of expertise of strategy consultants? Well, our guest, Dan Szuc has been working on this question for the last 20 years. He's so deep into it that he written two books on this topic Make Meaningful Work and Make Meaningful Culture. And the good news is that, yes culture is 100% an area where we need to play a role. We can look at culture as a design material that can be shaped. In this episode we explore how that works in practice, where you even start and the pitfalls that you should be mindful. We get into practical techniques like "practice spotting", talk about "moments that matter" and explore the influence of leadership (and lack of it). This episode is for everyone who want's to contribute to making "shitty" work environments into ones that are better equipped to help you do meaningful work! Culture often feels like a huge, intangible and sometimes even scary topic to touch. I hope that this conversation help see that there are small, practical, tangible actions you can do to start shaping a better culture today and the confidence to do so! Enjoy and keep making a positive impact. Be well, --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 239 04:00 Culture at work 04:30 Moving Beyond "Soft Skills" 06:45 Professional Acting to Organizational Culture 10:30 Introducing SPARKLE 13:00 the SPARKLE Acronym 16:00 Small Acts, Big Change 23:30 Power of Practice Spotting 30:30 Why People Hesitate to Change 34:00 Rules vs. Practice 41:00 How to do practice spotting 45:30 Challenge of Engagement 50:30 Introducing New Practices to Your Team 54:30 Small Practice to Organizational Shift 57:00 Best case transformation 1:00:15 What Dan is Working on Next 1:02:30 Resources 1:04:30 Question to ponder --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielszuchttps://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/make-meaningful-work-7327884648296972288/ https://www.makemeaningfulwork.com/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/173792823X --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle -- [ 4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/239-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/239-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/239-apple https://go.servicedesignshow.com/239-snipd

I recently started playing Padel... And like with all my new hobbies, I enjoy getting good gear. So after some research, I treated myself to a racket from the higher end of the market. Now, when I'm on the court playing and lose, I could (might) complain that my racket sucks. That it was "false advertising" because all the specs indicate that this is almost an unbeatable racket. But let's be honest, we both know that's probably not the case. It’s far more likely that I just don't yet know how to use this new "tool" to its fullest potential. You may be surprised to learn that this is strikingly similar to what happens in many organizations. They invest in building a service design capability, but after a while, they complain that it’s not delivering the game-changing results they hoped for. So, does service design suck? Well, according to the research our guest Giles Colborne has done, the answer is a definitive no. In fact, he found that companies with high design maturity grow at 9x times(!) the pace of everyone else. The problem, as Giles argues, isn't the tool. It's the interface between the design team and the rest of the business. It's like spending a small fortune on that pro-level racket, only to hold it upside down in the wrong hand, and then wonder why you're not winning any games. When organizations bring in service design without creating the right conditions for success, they end up frustrated and disillusioned. So, what can we do about it? The go-to response I often see in our field is that we tend to shout louder, to do a "roadshow" and "educate" the business on our value. But Giles explains why this is actually often the least effective approach. That's why in this episode, we explore how we can stop explaining the tool and start changing the way our organizations use it, making it easier for them to unlock its full potential. What's great about this is that it helps shift the perception of service design from an afterthought, a "nice-to-have" for keeping customers happy, to an engine for growth. And once that clicks, it becomes a whole different game. Now, I'm just hoping the same will be true for my padel skills... Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact. Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 238 01:00 Proving Measurable Impact 03:30 Design is seen as a 'Nice-to-Have' 05:00 The Board's View: Money First, UX Second 08:30 The Checkout Gail 11:00 Research: 9x Growth via Design Maturity 15:00 The "Messy Middle" is an Interface Problem 17:45 Stakeholder Trap: "Build Us One of These" 22:15 Strategy: Investigate, Don't Educate 26:30 Flipping the narrative 28:30 Why Benefits Don't Resonate 30:30 The "Gaslighting" Feeling 33:30 Design is Not Incompatible with Business 35:30 The Next Level: Culture and Governance 36:45 Example: Flipping Compliance 38:45 Process vs. Culture 32:00 Start Point: Ask About Business Goals 43:15 What the Org Really Values (Cost) 44:45 Tough Questions for Stakeholders 46:45 Anchoring CX in Governance 49:00 Our Role in Measurement 51:45 Mapping Value to Commander's Intent 54:00 The Uncomfortable Aspect of Rigor 57:30 Cultivating Confidence in Your Toolkit 59:45 Leadership Over Arrogance 1:03:00 3 Final Key Takeaways 1:06:30 Resource Use: Automation and AI 1:07:15 Question to Ponder 1:08:15 Resources --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gilescolborne --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle -- [ 4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/238-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/238-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/238-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/238-snipd

Do you ever wonder about the "so what?" of your journey maps... To this day, I often see that journey mapping is treated as a "documentation" exercise. Basically as a way to visualize our customers experiences. And while having that visual overview is useful, it's just the beginning. As you probably know, the real challenge is turning that understanding into action that actually impacts your customers (and your business). Not a small challenge by any means. That's why this episode of The Journey Management Playbook is fully dedicated to it. We're already into episode six of the series, and if you haven't seen the previous ones, you can find the full playlist in the show notes. So far, we've gone from defining a business challenge to using AI to generate and enrich insights. We’ve covered how to structure and simplify your journey to be more action-biased. But all of that work is just a foundation. The journey map we've created is a reflection of the current state, and the key question still remains: What do we do now? In this episode, Tingting Lin from TheyDo and I finally answer that question. We dive into the crucial building blocks of opportunities and solutions, and you’ll see what is key to turning your journey maps from static documents into dynamic drivers of lasting business impact. We also tackle a few common pitfalls to avoid like: As you'll hear, this episode is again packed with practical advice to help you move beyond mapping to true journey management in the most effective way. What are your biggest challenges in moving from insights to action? Leave a comment on YouTube or Spotify, or reach out on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you. Enjoy and keep making a positive impact! Be well, ~ Marc ---[1. LINKS 🔗 ] --- 👉 Playbook Slides - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/ofmtc ✅ Sign up for TheyDo - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/prcde --- [ 2. GUIDE ] --- 01:00 Recap from previous episode 04:00 Core Problem with Static Journey Maps 06:00 Introducing the "Solutions" Building Block 10:00 Defining "Opportunities" 12:00 The triple diamond workflow 15:30 Real-world opportunity 16:00 Why we separate Opportunities & Solution 18:30 Where to look for the opportunity first 22:00 Off-boarding Problem as a Case Study 24:30 Connecting the Problem to the Solution Quickly 28:00 Distinguishing Between Problems and Opportunities 32:00 Pain Point to an Opportunity 36:30 Importance of Language in Naming Opportunities 38:00 Debate About Using AI in this Process 40:00 Who are we writing these opportunities for 45:00 Connecting Opportunities to Strategic Objectives 47:00 Summary of Opportunities 49:00 Transitioning to "Solution" Blocks 51:00 Example of a Concrete Solution 59:45 Practicality of Using Solution Types 1:02:00 Defining Statuses 1:06:00 Connecting Solutions to Opportunities 1:08:00 Final Summary --- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] --- https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-06-youtubehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-06-spotifyhttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-06-applehttps://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-06-snipd