Service Design Show

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 start adding more data to the map. Your map, which was once a marvel of simplicity, now all of a sudden looks more like the manual of a nuclear power plant.

So the time has come to break your giant journey map into smaller, more manageable pieces. It's time to move from a single journey map to a system of journey maps. The moment this thought goes through your mind, you've opened pandora's box.

Many new questions arise...

The last thing you want is to invest a lot of time and money in setting up a tool, structure, and process that, in the end, no one ends up using. Not good for the company and not great for your career either.

In our Circle community for in-house service design professionals, many members are currently in the midst of this transition. That's why we decided to address this topic in a recent session and share the most important do's and don'ts with each other. In this episode, you're going to the highlights from that session and learn what it takes to go from a single journey map to a system of maps.

It's clear to me that journey map, mapping, management, and ops is gearing up for the next evolution wave. So expect more content on these topics in the months ahead.

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00:00 Welcome to the Show

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If you'd like to be part of these conversations as they happen rather than just getting the summary on the podcast, consider joining us in the Circle.

www.servicedesignshow.com/circle/

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 actually hope that it's going to work out differently than you planned so that you can learn. But when things don't work out as planned, this is often perceived as... failure. And failure isn't what most organizations embrace or celebrate. The truth is that they fail at, well yeah, failing.

There are many reasons for this, but maybe the biggest one is a lack of psychological safety. Here's the kicker... Scientific research has proven that the best-performing teams have the highest degree of psychological safety. So how do you grow the appetite for failure in a risk-averse organization that is focused on maintaining the status quo?

We explore that question in this week's episode with Stephan Wiedner. Stephan has done a lot of research on this topic and seen many examples of what works and what doesn't. So if you're interested in building a "fail-safe" environment in your organization, then you don't want to miss out on this conversation.

One thing that surprised me in this episode was that you can objectively measure the levels of psychological safety. Of course, this is a great tool to show you and your CEO if you're heading in the right direction.

Enjoy the conversation, and keep making a positive impact :)

- Marc

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00:00 Welcome to episode 164

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Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

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 led him on the quest to find out what the differentiator is between the two.

Can you guess the answer? This shouldn't surprise you by now; it's people.

So if that's the case, what kind of people does it take to make design work?

Well, Mauro decided to write a dedicated book about this with the inspiring title: The Human Side of Innovation. The book just got published, and I invited Mauro on the Show to share the key insights with you. This is a good one!

We explored many ideas in this conversation, but one thing that stood out for me was kindness as a competitive advantage. And you know what? It makes complete business sense!

Enjoy the episode, and if you do consider sharing it, someone who might as well :)

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to episode 163

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* https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauroporcini/

* The Human Side of Innovation (book) - https://amzn.to/3Opl8h2

* In Your Shoes (podcast) - https://open.spotify.com/show/6u90U1OT6mLdByL0TAYRW6

* Stage Not Age (book) - https://amzn.to/3ETZNcz

--- [ 3. CONTEST ] ---

To enter the contest, head over to the video version of this conversation on YouTube and leave a comment there to answer the question posed in the episode.

https://go.servicedesignshow.com/episode163

--- [ 4. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

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 to but especially relevant when working with public services. You can't just always design for the "average" user or the one with the most money. So what can you do?

Well, Lesley Ann Noel has made it her mission to help us design better futures for everyone. She has done many experiments in her role as a university professor to overcome this seeming paradox.

And her findings are... pretty surprising, to say the least. She shares her story in this week's episode.

After this conversation, it really resonated with me that it's okay and even beneficial to bring your whole self into the design process. Yes, including all of your biases!

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to episode 162

49:45 Closing thoughts

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* https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesleyannnoel/

* The Activist Academic (book) - https://amzn.to/3tfjUep

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

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 conversations about important topics. We aren't having the conversations we need to have. And that's causing us a lot of trouble.

Many conversations these days have become shallow, lack connection, and don't build shared understanding. But there's hope. There is a way out of this conversation crisis. We need and can design for better conversations.

In his book Making Conversation, Fred shares why and how you do that. The book has been a huge inspiration source for me lately, so I just had to get Fred on the Show to dig a bit deeper.

So if you also want more human, meaningful, and productive conversations, you'll definitely enjoy this conversation. Yes, that's a bit meta :)

Conversations are a creative act, make the most of them!

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to episode 161

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddust/

--- [ 3. CONTEST ] ---

To enter the contest, head over to the video version of this conversation on YouTube and leave a comment there to answer the question posed in the episode.

https://go.servicedesignshow.com/episode161

--- [ 4. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

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 hear practical examples of how to do this—helping you design services that aren't just good for your customers and business but also for our planet. The conversation also reveals how you can work towards making sustainability a fundamental design principle at the start of every project, not an afterthought. Small teaser, you need to make a compelling business argument... there are plenty.

All in all, an inspiring episode if you want to be more conscious about taking care of our environment in your own design practice. Enjoy, and especially this time, keep making a positive impact :)

- Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to the Show

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

If you'd like to be part of these conversations as they happen rather than just getting the summary on the podcast, consider joining us in the Circle.

www.servicedesignshow.com/circle/

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 in our recent conversation. Karen has a marketing background, and she looks at the challenges in our field from a slightly different perspective. As you'll hear, our conversation started by discussing design inclusivity, but...

We eventually landed upon one simple question that brings everything together. This simple question acts like your north star, compass, and light in the dark. This question is so good that it deserves its own t-shirt.

So want to get a seat at the table? Want to influence projects early? Want to make your design practice more inclusive? The clue to all of this is in this episode.

Enjoy the conversation, and keep making a positive impact!

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to episode 160

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- https://www.linkedin.com/in/krbaker/

- https://www.weforum.org/press/2022/05/new-initiative-to-build-an-equitable-interoperable-and-safe-metaverse/

- https://www.marketingdive.com/news/degree-deodorant-inclusivity-metaverse-virtual-marathon/622609/

- https://designjustice.org

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

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 ]

[ 2. LINKS ]

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinay85/

[ 3. CONFERENCE ]

Join the Service Design Global Conference on October 13 & 14, 2022.

Use the code SDSHOW to get a **20% discount** on your ticket.

https://hopin.com/events/service-design-global-conference-2022/registration

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

[ 2. LINKS ]

* https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianbason/

[ 3. CONFERENCE ]

Join the Service Design Global Conference on October 13 & 14, 2022.

Use the code SDSHOW to get a **20% discount** on your ticket.

https://hopin.com/events/service-design-global-conference-2022/registration

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. In this episode, Marine shares some inspiring examples from her work. You'll also hear which companies are more open to investing in their employee experience and the common roadblocks that Marine has to overcome.

If you believe that a great customer experience starts inside your organization, then I'm sure this episode will inspire you.

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00:00 Welcome to episode 159

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* https://www.linkedin.com/in/marine-bucher/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

https://servicedesignshow.com/circle