Why service design still needs explaining

Mark Howell explains why service design remains misunderstood and how naming and context affect perception.

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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