Service Design Show

Ever feel like your most crucial work goes unnoticed? Just like the essential "cooling fluid" of a car, much of service design's impact—making teams efficient and processes smooth—operates in the background. But when it's missing, chaos erupts.

In this episode, our guest Kat Thackray dive into the invisible, yet vital, work that drives true change in service design. We'll explore why this intangible effort is often overlooked, what it actually looks like in practice, and actionable ways to gain the recognition and resources you deserve.

If you're tired of your crucial contributions being taken for granted, this episode is your roadmap to getting that unseen work finally recognized.

Enjoy the conversation, and keep making that positive, even if sometimes invisible, impact!

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to Episode 229

04:15 Who is Kat Thackray

05:00 The Consultant's Dilemma

07:45 Kat's "Aha!" Moment: Prioritizing People

10:30 Painful Status Quo of Teamwork

15:00 Why Organizations Overlook "Soft Skills"

19:00 How COVID-19 Shifted Design Focus

21:00 Bridging Strategy & Delivery

26:30 The Need for Team Coaches

29:00 The "Ted Lasso" Effect

32:00 Expanding the Designer's Toolkit

34:45 Jack of All Trades vs Specialized Expert

35:45 Unpacking the "Golden Thread" of Collaboration

40:45 Practical Steps for Healthier Team Dynamics

43:45 Navigating Tricky Power Dynamics

47:45 Recognizing Team Vulnerabilities

51:15 The New Skills Emerging in Design

51:45 Empowering Your Team Members

53:45 Connect & Learn More: Resources

55:15 Kat's Final Advice for Designers

57:15 A Question to Ponder

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinethackray
• https://the-shift.ghost.io/
• https://www.peopleequalspurpose.com/
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Book)

--- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---

• YouTube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/229-youtube
• Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/229-apple
• Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/229-snipd
• Other (RSS) ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/229-other

--- [ 4. CIRCLE ] ---

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

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

It's time to continue our journey...

In episode 1 of the Journey Management Playbook we pinpointed a key business challenge that we want to tackle.

The focus of episode 2 was all about gathering qualitative and quantitative data to understand the 'what' and the 'why'.

But now comes the big question: How do you transform all that valuable material into clear insights and identify the opportunities that will actually make a tangible impact, fast?

Where should you even start to make sense of it all and prioritize your efforts?

This is where the rubber meets the road, and it's exactly what we address in episode 3. We're diving into the crucial first steps of structuring and scoping.

Just like in the past episodes, we're joined again by Tingting Lin from TheyDo, who shows us how to take our raw data and, with AI as our powerful co-pilot, quickly generate an initial, structured journey map.

This episode helps you understand how to:

Take your raw qualitative data (like survey responses or interview notes) and use AI to generate an initial, structured customer journey map

Begin making sense of AI-generated insights by understanding different insight types and how to initially prioritize them.

Enrich an existing journey structure with new data using AI, effectively showing how to augment prior work with fresh insights.

Our goal with this whole series is to help you use journey management to make tangible impact faster, and as you'll see AI is a great tool to accelerate this process.

Important Note: This episode features a lot of screen sharing as we build a journey live inside TheyDo. So to get the most out of it, I highly recommend watching the video version on YouTube or having the accompanying slides (link in the show notes) handy if you're listening to the podcast edition.

Enjoy and keep driving that positive change.

~ Marc

[ RESOURCES ]

• Playbook Slides - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/0nz_4
• Sign up for TheyDo - https://www.theydo.com

[ GUIDE ]

00:00 Episode 3: What to Expect

02:30 Introducing Theydo & Tingting's

06:00 The Big Picture

07:30 Episode 2 Recap

08:30 Offboarding Sources

09:30 The Goodbye Email Data

12:00 Working with Unstructured Data

13:30 Miro Board: Structuring Insights

14:30 First Step in Journey Management

15:00 Generating a Journey with AI

18:00 Starting a New Journey in Theydo

20:00 AI-Generated Journey from Scratch

23:00 Enriching an Existing Journey

31:00 Blank Slate

36:00 Collaborating with AI: Verifying Insights

42:00 Check Mapped Insights

46:00 Workspace Insights Overview

49:00 3 Ways Prioritizing Verification

50:00 Prioritizing with Pain, Gain & Observations

51:30 Starting with Pain Points

1:04:00 Bonus Questions from Previous Episode

[ RSS LINKS ]

• 🍿 YouTube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-03-youtube
• 🎧 Spotify ~https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-03-spotify
• 🍏 Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-03-apple
• ✂️ Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-03-snipd
• 🎙️ Other ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-03-other

Why does doing good service design often feel like an uphill battle...

Okay, I'm on a mission this year to find the best recipe for BBQ Chicken Wings (recommendations are welcome, by the way).

Over the weekend, I was experimenting with a new one (I'd give it an 8.5/10), and then it struck me.

I can have the most delicious recipe, but if my guests turn out to be vegetarian, we spontaneously decide to go out for dinner, or the kids are just tired of eating chicken again, it won't matter.

No one will appreciate my tasty chicken wings, no matter how hard I try.

And obviously, the problem isn't with the recipe itself.

Well, you might be surprised how often this exact scenario plays out in our work in service design.

We pour our hearts and souls into crafting solutions that should create a positive impact on users and our organizations.

Yet, somehow, a lot (maybe most?) of these well-designed solutions never actually see the light of day.

Is it because they are bad solutions? Assuming you know what you're doing, most likely not.

So, there must be something else going on. Are there other critical success factors (like knowing your guests are vegetarian) that we tend to overlook when we're so focused on perfecting the "recipe"?

It turns out there are (which probably isn't a huge surprise to many of us).

So what are these other success factors?

And most importantly, how do we understand them and maybe even turn them in our favour?

That's what we discuss in this episode with our returning guest, Brad Alphonso.

Brad has led numerous service design initiatives from the initial idea all the way through to implementation inside a large, regulated, and pretty complex organization.

He's open about the fact that not all of these initiatives had the impact he hoped for, but over the years, his success rate has gone up significantly.

In this episode, we look back and reflect: Was it luck? Was there a magic breakthrough, or did the 'game' itself change somehow for him?

So if you want to move the needle with your work, instead of it feeling like a constant struggle, this episode offers important clues – around understanding your organisation's real momentum and how decisions actually get made – that could help you navigate much more effectively.

This conversation made me reflect on the fact that I see so many talented service design "players" out there. And I do wonder how many of us are, at times, playing the wrong game... let's try not to be that person.

Keep making a positive impact!

Take care,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to Episode 228

04:00 Brad's hopes for the conversation

06:00 Challenges in Brad's role

09:30 Business challenges

11:00 What gives teams headaches

13:00 Service design definition

15:00 Current operating systems

20:30 Importance of service design

24:45 Problem ownership

27:00 Alternative O.S. for solving wicked problems

30:00 Types of tools used

32:00 Strategy document examples

33:00 Three questions to ask your CFO

34:30 What is "good enough"?

36:30 Observing changes in your work

39:45 Tools for clarifying the operating system

42:00 Avoiding naivety

45:00 Winning the 'game' as a toolkit

47:00 What are we missing?

49:00 Obvious next steps - idea to inception

53:00 Why some projects fail

55:00 Pitfall perspective - pre-mortem activity

56:30 Summary of the Alternative O.S.

58:00 Question to ponder

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-alphonso

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

Are they lying to us...

You often hear people say that driving change as an in-house service design professional often feels less like a sprint and more like a marathon, right?

But let's be honest, that's not quite true.

In reality, it's more like running an ultra-marathon (and some more).

We all know that "tangible" progress in service design can sometimes feel slow and far removed.

Often, the real challenge isn't about which tools, methods, or frameworks you use.

It’s about keeping your internal flame burning and maintaining momentum inside the organization, especially when things get tough.

But here's the good news: some professionals have found ways to play the long game successfully.

So, how do you sustain your energy, passion, and impact when the work feels like a long-distance race (without a clear path and unknown finish line)? That's what this new episode is all about.

It’s part of our new series where we dive into the actual, unpolished practice of in-house service design.

For this conversation, I was joined by two experienced professionals, Linn Jansson and James Field.

They are both deep in the daily realities of this work and truly get what the "in-house marathon" feels like.

Linn and James share some honest insights – not just about their diverse journeys into service design, but specifically about how they navigate these long-term challenges and, crucially, how they keep their motivation high.

In this episode, you'll discover where they find their 'fuel', including:

The power of supportive teams and communities.

The importance of recognizing those small (but mighty!) wins.

How they’ve learned to see and appreciate the long-term shifts they are making, even when it's tough to notice day-to-day.

So, if you're looking for some encouragement, practical perspectives on resilience, or simply the reassurance that you're not running this marathon alone, I think you'll get a lot from this episode.

And on that note, I'm curious: What keeps you motivated when you're deep in the in-house design marathon? Hit reply and let me know.

Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!

Take care,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 In-house Service Design Realities

03:30 Linn's Journey

06:00 James's Journey

07:30 Defining Success

09:00 Linn's Success View

10:30 Measuring Progress

14:00 James on Influence

17:00 Measuring Enablement

18:30 Articulating Value

22:00 Why IMGD Helps

23:45 James on Influence

26:45 Org Influencing Designers

27:45 James's Sales Example

29:00 Keeping Design Sensibility

34:00 Misconceptions about SD

37:30 Linn's In-house Challenges

38:00 Linn on Failure

42:00 Gentle Activism

46:00 What to Strive For

48:30 Learning More

49:30 James's Motivation

52:30 Linn's Motivation

54:30 James's Final Point

55:00 Linn's Final Say

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/linn-jansson
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesadamfield/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

Have we, as the design field, contributed to the erosion of our social fabric over the last years...

I had a big week recently.

My daughter received the news about which high school she'll be attending next year. In the Netherlands, we have a lottery system for high schools; you list multiple options and hope fortune smiles upon you for your first choice.

The second option on my daughter’s list involved a 45-minute bike ride, which is quite a journey, even by Dutch standards.

A few weeks prior, we’d made that bike ride together to visit the school. Reflecting on those 45 minutes, it struck me.

The experience is, of course, completely different when you make that journey alone compared to when you’re riding alongside your best friend to school.

Suddenly, those 45 minutes take on a totally new meaning.

So, in this case to make the journey more enjoyable, you don't have to redesign the roads, you need to design for connection.

This got me thinking: What if we shifted our focus in design?

What would happen if we started designing more for groups instead of just individuals, for 'together' instead of 'alone,' for co-experience and communities?

And what is the price we pay if we don't?

It seems that many other fields already embraced the importance of community, while design seems to be trailing behind, why is that?

These questions have been going through my mind a lot lately.

That's why I was particularly excited to chat with James Lang.

James, a founder of the collective Together by Design, has spent the last few years deeply immersed in the world of community design.

In this episode, we explore why community design is an essential, yet often overlooked, part of the service design toolkit and share practical ways to build stronger connections through design.

So if you're looking to design better, more humane services while strengthening our communities at the same time, this is the perfect episode for you.

James and I had a fun debate about the art and science of knowing if your community is "working". I'm curious which side you’ll lean towards after listening.

Keep making a positive impact and design for community!

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Intro / Welcome

04:00 Why Design Communities?

07:30 Community defined by James

10:30 Sense of Belonging

12:00 Together by Design

16:00 Why Study Communities?

26:00 Changing Our Approach

30:30 Ethics in Design

31:00 Ethics in Community Design

34:00 Cult vs. Community / Power Dynamics

37:15 Community Defined by Marc

31:30 Community Ownership & Power

40:45 Commercial Communities

42:00 Non-Commercial Communities

42:30 Money in Non-Commercial Communities

47:45 Community Health KPIs

51:45 Marc's Community Example

52:45 James on Marc's Community

56:00 Why Measure Community?

57:00 Measuring Community Signals

58:00 Intentional Community Building

1:01:00 Resources & Get Involved

1:02:30 James' Closing Thoughts

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslangresearch/
• https://www.togetherbydesign.org/
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/together-by-design/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

Who pours their heart and soul into journey maps that end up gathering dust...

Exactly no one of course!

Sure, we all want our journey work to have more impact, faster.

But the question is how?

That's exactly what we're exploring in the Journey Management Playbook series in collaboration with TheyDo.

What makes this series different is that it's built on the real-world lessons learned from companies who are deep in the trenches of implementing journey management.

Success leaves clues – clues we're sharing with you.

Just like in the first episode, this second part dives into a step that many professionals (myself included, sometimes) tend to skip, overlook, or take for granted.

Yeah, it's the kind of oversight that often comes back to haunt you later on.

This crucial step is all about grounding your journey efforts in solid evidence, blending the what with the why. It’s what separates informed action from guesswork.

Getting this right brings clarity on what truly deserves your attention and what noise you can safely ignore.

Without it, you’re essentially sailing in the dark, hoping for the best.

And let's be honest, hope isn't the most reliable strategy when stakeholders are looking for tangible results.

So, join Tingting Lin and me to learn how to prevent your journey management efforts from failing to make the impact they deserve.

I thought I already had things pretty well dialled in with my own journey management, but this conversation was an eye-opener. Tingting showed how looking into a few simple things differently could help me ground my journeys in even stronger evidence.

Take care,

~ Marc

[RESOURCES]

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tingting-lin-8728308/
• Journey AI Episode: https://youtu.be/ImPCICkw9CI
• TheyDo - ⁠https://www.theydo.com/

[EPISODE GUIDE]

00:00 Episode Preview

04:00 Meet the Expert: Tingting

06:30 EP 1 Recap: Business Challenge

08:30 Data in Workflow

11:30 Analyzing with Data

16:30 Data Types & Sources

18:00 Siloed Data Challenge

19:30 Numbers vs Emotions

21:30 Why Data Quality

22:30 Understanding Quant Data

25:30 Correlations & Indicators

28:00 Comperehensive data

32:30 Adding Data Context

35:30 Actionable Data Context

37:45 Quant Data Takeaways

39:00 Qualitative Data Example

41:00 Churn Example with Qual

43:00 Unstructured data

45:00 Naturally occurring data

48:00 Key qualitative data insights

49:45 AI for Quality Analysis

50:45 Putting Data Together

53:00 Data Combination Insights

56:00 Data in Large Businesses

57:30 The Business Journey Tool

58:30 Episode 3 Preview

1:00:00 Audience Q&A (EP 1)

What is the secret to consistently delivering high-quality work, day in and day out...

Recently, I was chatting with my neighbours who run a bespoke interior design and manufacturing business.

They make truly stunning, customised pieces for the upper market.

It's easy to think their success hinges on exceptional craftsmanship, which is surely part of it.

But what really keeps their business running smoothly is something far more fundamental.

In my conversation with them, we agreed that most of it comes down to things like having the right supplies available, making sure everything in its place so it can be found quickly, that tools in tip-top shape, and even something as simple as having lunch prepared so you don't have to worry about it.

These basic and somewhat "boring" conditions, are what enable them to deliver consistently high-quality work. Without them, production would be a slog, quality would be all over the map, and let's face it, they probably wouldn't be in business for very long.

We often take these kinds of conditions for granted. When things are running like a well-oiled machine, we assume that's just how it's supposed to be.

But you, as a service design professional, know that the conditions for delivering your best work are often far from guaranteed.

In fact, it can often feel like your organization is actively making your job harder, not easier.

This brings us to the question: What would it take to create the ideal conditions for service design to achieve its maximum impact? And how can we actually put those conditions in place?

Well, as you might have guessed already, that's where Design Operations (aka DesignOps) comes in.

Getting started with DesignOps (or scaling it) can be a real challenge, especially in organizations that don't have a strong design heritage.

But the good news is that John Calhoun and Rachel Posman have done the heavy lifting for us.

They've gathered best practices from experienced DesignOps professionals and compiled them into a brand-new book "The Design Conductors".

This book promises to help you kickstart or scale your DesignOps efforts more effectively, make a bigger impact, and sidestep common pitfalls.

The result? Making your life as a service design professional a whole lot easier!

So, with this foresight, we of course need to know more about this book.

And you guessed it, that's exactly what this episode is all about.

Here's already one key insight from the conversation: Every organization is already doing design operations. Most are just doing it unconsciously and missing out on the benefits. Yeah, there's a lot of low-hanging fruit waiting to be picked...

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to Episode 226

04:00 Book Title Revealed

05:00 Defining DesignOps

06:30 Starting the DesignOps Journey

08:30 Realizing it's DesignOps

10:30 Inside Design Operations

13:00 DesignOps IS Design

16:00 Honing the Craft (Iteration)

21:30 Ideal Book Audience & Origins

26:00 Book Feedback

28:00 Why Write the Book Now?

31:45 Book Structure Evolution

40:00 Favorite Writing Part

42:30 Deciding Book Content

45:30 Defining Success & Measurement

50:30 Knowing You're on Track

53:00 Current State of DesignOps

56:00 AI as a Roadblock

57:30 AI as an Opportunity

59:30 Questions While Writing

1:02:30 What Was Left Out

1:04:30 A Question to Ponder

1:06:30 Get the Book

1:07:30 Discount & Giveaway

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncalhoun/
• https://www.thedesignconductors.com/

[ Discount Code ]

Use "ServiceDesign15" to get 15% off the book. Valid till May 31, 2025. Redeemable at https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/design-operations/

[ Signed Copy Contest ]

Leave a comment on this episode (via YouTube or Spotify) to enroll in the contest. We will pick a random entry on May 8th, 2025. Please respond within 24 hours if you have won to claim your prize.

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

Who are they...

I know there are many out there and you could very well be one of them.

I'm talking about the unsung heroes who do the hard work of making the services around us a little bit better each and every day.

It might sound a little bit silly, but I feel that we don't know enough what it's like to do service design on a day to day basis.

Sure, we often hear about inspiring theories, useful frameworks and great case studies.

But somehow we rarely get to see the honest, unpolished and messy side of our work.

Well, that's about to change!

We're starting an new series here on the Show. A series where we dive deep into the actual practice of service design. About time, right? ;)

You'll hear two guests, both experienced in-house service design professionals, talk about their hard-won lessons, how they measure success, the indispensable skills to do their work well and much more.

In this first episode, I'm joined by Shelby Bower and Nicole Bennett who both, as you'll quickly hear, bring a wealth of experience and practical wisdom to the conversation.

So if you want compare if you're doing service design in a way that aligns with your fellow practitioners, and maybe learn a thing or two from their approach, this series is for you.

Which question would you ask a fellow service design professional? Let me know and maybe I'll be able to weave it in into the next episode.

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to this episode

01:30 Introducing Shelby

05:00 Introducing Nicole

11:00 Nicole Definition of Success

13:30 Shelby's Success Metrics

17:30 Tracking Progress

21:45 Nicole's Dinner Table Session

23:30 Topic Choice (Nicole)

24:30 Shelby's Session Topic

26:00 Topic Choice (Shelby)

27:45 Nicole's Key Takeaways

30:45 Shelby's Key Moments

34:45 Shelby's Written Takeaway

36:00 Nicole's Post-Session Impact

38:30 In-House Design Misconceptions

43:30 Nicole's In-House Design Truth

46:30 In-House vs. Agency

50:30 Becoming Indispensable In-House

54:30 Shelby's Motivation (Burnout)

57:30 Nicole's Motivation

59:30 Nicole's Advice

59:45 Shelby's Advice

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• Shelby's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelbybower/
• Nicole's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolerosebennett/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

I'm sure you recognize this...

A stakeholders comes up with a new idea they want to explore, which you are highly skeptical about.

Or take the opposite scenario where you see value in pursuing an opportunity but have a hard time getting your business stakeholders on board.

The underlaying question in both situation is really how do you know which opportunities to pursue and which one are just a waste of time?

Once we have the ability to predict the future this question will become irrelevant... but up to that point we have to rely on tools and frameworks that help us make educated guesses about the future.

There's already many, many frameworks out there already that try to help you navigate theses kinds of strategic questions.

All of these frameworks come with their pros and cons and should be used in different situations.

But I'm pretty sure that you haven't yet come across the PRFAQ framework, at least I hadn't until I met Marcelo Calbucci, who recently wrote a book about it.

So, why should you care about another framework?

Well, for one PRFAQ has been used internally heavily inside Amazon for over 20 years already, helping them decide which projects to focus their resources on. And I think we can agree that Amazon has had a few success over the last years.

So why didn't this framework get out sooner and find broader adoption outside of Amazon, that's one of the questions I had for Marcello as well.

When I got more familiar with the framework, what fascinated me is that it has a strong emphasises writing.

Yeah, I know the idea of having to write instead of visualising might scare off a few people at first but trust me, you don't have to be novelist in order to leverage the power of this framework.

As you'll hear, Marcelo explains in this episode that writing has deeper and more important purpose than putting words on paper.

Does this mean it's less suited for the design community? The opposite couldn't be more than true, this framework should be a natural fit for us, and you'll learn why in the conversation.

So if you want to make important strategic decisions faster and with more confidence the PRFAQ framework is absolutely one of the tools you should consider.

And this episode will help you get up to speed about it in no time.

In a world where many people around us are more comfortable with the written word (and spreadsheets), having a framework like this can make the difference between finding the connection with them and not.

Enjoy and keep making a positive impact!

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to episode 225

04:13 What is PRFAQ?

06:30 The problem PRFAQ solves

08:30 PRFAQ's Origin

10:00 Structure of a PRAFQ

13:00 When to Use

14:30 PRFAQ Power / Use

17:30 Thinking about PRFAQ

19:00 An Example

21:30 Strategic writing elements

24:00 Avoiding Nitpicking

25:00 Who Struggles / Benefits

26:45 Biggest misconceptions

29:00 AI Influence on PRFAQ

31:30 When to be careful using AI

33:30 How to Start using PRAFQ

35:00 Using Marc as an example

37:30 How to express the problem

39:15 Sustainability

41:00 Retention

44:30 Strategy: Can vs Should

45:45 The Spark

46:00 Marcelo's Next Steps

47:30 Does PRFAQ Take Long?

49:00 PRFAQ Superpowers / Importance

52:00 Writing Challenges

54:00 Possible Book Sequel

55:30 Question to ponder

56:15 Learn More about PRAFQ

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcelocalbucci/
• The PRFAQ Framework (about the book)
• https://calbucci.com/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

Ever feel like you're pushing a boulder uphill with journey management... Yeah, we've all been there. But guess what? There's a smarter way!

That's why we're launching a brand new deep dive series on the Service Design Show. In this series, we're pulling back the curtain on how you can get tangible business results faster through journey management.

Helping to grow trust with stakeholders, and finally getting the green light to do (more of) the work that truly matters.

For this series, I've brought in Tingting Lin from the TheyDo team. Tingting has pretty much seen it all. The wins, the stumbles, and everything in between. She's guided countless teams and knows precisely what separates the journey management champions from the rest. And over the coming weeks, she's sharing all the secrets with us.

In episode one, we're tackling a step that's often overlooked - a step that can derail your whole project later on. So, if you want to set yourself up for long-term success, this episode shows you the first key step on that journey.

P.S. Got questions? Share them in the comments on YouTube or Spotify and we might just answer yours in a future episode.

[ RESOURCES ]

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tingting-lin-8728308/

• Slides - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook

• TheyDo - https://www.theydo.com/

[ EPISODE GUIDE ]

00:00 TheyDo Ep 01: Tingting

01:30 Tingting's Background

02:30 Introducing Theydo Platform

04:15 Journey Management Struggles

08:15 Marc's Business Case

09:00 Episode Content Preview

10:00 Defining Effective Challenges

15:30 6-Month Challenge Example

16:30 Challenges vs. Goals

18:30 "Why" Before "How"

20:00 Quarterly Challenge Example

21:00 Marc's Target Example

23:30 Community Experience Challenge

26:30 Debit Card Focus

32:00 Bridging Journey Gaps

35:00 Setting Goals & Targets

36:00 Challenge Impact Analysis

38:15 Journey Achievement Goals

41:00 Reviewing Key Slides

43:00 Defining Good Challenges

45:00 Proving Contribution Value

47:30 Challenge Important Notes

48:30 Episode Content Recap

49:00 Audience Q&A Session

50:00 Next Episode Preview