In the context of digital transformation and change there’s often a risk of service design being misunderstood as either a luxury, or a magic bullet.
In this post, I want to put forward some thoughts which challenge that perception and advocate for service design as a golden thread that helps us prioritise people while delivering digital transformation.
First, though, I should shout out my colleague Amy Middleton who worked on this post with me. We debated, challenged each other, and built on each other’s insights and observations throughout – key characteristics of the service design mindset!
Service design as a golden thread
Service design is a fundamentally human-centred discipline. It is also inherently collaborative.
Its very purpose being to integrate seamlessly with other design practices such as content design, product design and user research, and tie their work together into a meaningful whole.
In managing change processes in particular, service design helps design, delivery and stakeholders:
- gain a shared understanding of user journeys and experiences
- stay focused on meeting the needs of service users as human beings
- identify opportunities to meet those needs through innovation and technology
In organisations whose cultures are resistant to adopting a human-centred design (HCD) approach, service design can be especially important.
At Sparck/BJSS we often discuss the fuzzy lines between service design and business analysis, a function typically found on the technology and delivery side of the fence.
While there’s potential for confusion there, the similarities can also be helpful: if you’ve worked with a business analyst (BA) then much of what a service designer does will seem familiar… but different. That familiarity can be reassuring.
And the sense of method and process which service design brings perhaps feels more logical than creative. That can also help technical or policy people find a way into an HCD mindset.
Service design is fun, but fundamental
The strength of service design lies in its human-centred approach.
It uncovers user needs, pain points and context before ‘solutionising’ – that is, jumping to propose technical solutions.
This can be a pain point itself during digital transformation projects. Why do we need to do this? We already know what our users need and want. We’ve already got lots of ideas. And so on.
This is one reason service designers love running collaborative workshops, and engaging with stakeholders on outputs such as service blueprints. It gets people involved and practising service design themselves.
As Marc Stickdorn says in his introduction to Lou Downe’s book Good Services “service design is a team sport” – so, the more the merrier!
‘Merry’ is a good word, too: service design is also about bringing a fresh energy to transformation projects. Too often, organisational change can feel glum and a bit like a battle. Get people around a whiteboard, physical or virtual, swapping ideas, sketching, telling stories, and that can change.
I’ve found that this is often easier to have this kind of productive fun on smaller projects, with smaller organisations. But larger organisations and projects can also benefit. In fact, we should be fighting for these on every shape and size of project!
Personally, I don’t think there’s a better feeling than when the mood change in a room as the conversation shifts from grumbling about challenges to thinking about solving problems for service users.
From inward looking to outward looking. From organisations to people.
It reminds people why people go to work every day.
It’s not all about service design
Service design might be the golden thread, or the glue, if you like. But it can only deliver results when combined with other disciplines.
It can uncover and begin to articulate more complex problems. It can provide a picture of where we are now, and where we want to be.
Only with user research, though, can we start to really understand user needs and how people feel about a service.
And only with product design, content design, development and delivery can we start to create prototypes and products that solve the problems we’ve identified.
I’ll finish with a massive shout out to my business analysis colleagues. They’re so good at bringing together the worlds of tech and business, user needs and requirements, and helping service design to shine.
