Service Design Show

Join Jeff Hoekwater, a fintech service design expert and former exhibition designer, alongside Emilie Moravec, an innovation partner at a faith-based nonprofit with a diverse background in social work and theatre. They explore the concept of 'Empathy Theater' in automated customer interactions, questioning when friendly tones become manipulative. Emilie shares insights on the future of education with VR, examining how to foster belonging in virtual spaces. Together, they champion the importance of retaining human connections in a tech-driven world.

In this engaging discussion, Rachael Dietkus, a licensed clinical social worker and designer, emphasizes the importance of care in professional practice. She advocates for setting boundaries, like her 'no meetings before 10 AM' rule, to promote well-being. Rachael explores how service design can benefit from social work ethics, urging a shift from empathy to genuine care. She shares insights about fostering reflective practices and the need for spaciousness in workflows, highlighting that small changes can lead to sustainable professional lives.

Tingting Lin, a service design and journey management expert, shares insights on bridging customer empathy with business metrics. She emphasizes the need for 'Vertical Storytelling' to connect customer pain points to strategic objectives, helping stakeholders understand ROI. The conversation covers combining qualitative and quantitative data, using existing KPIs, and identifying leading indicators to prove impact. Tingting also provides practical steps to measure and communicate journey success effectively, ensuring that service design translates to tangible business value.

Mark Howell, an experienced service design leader, discusses the often-misunderstood value of service design and its connection to business outcomes. He explains why organizations struggle with adopting design labels and suggests focusing on customer experience instead. Mark addresses systemic barriers to service design and shares insights from his experience during a bank transformation. He also emphasizes the importance of design maturity and offers practical tools, like a service design quality assessment, to effectively communicate value to stakeholders.

In this engaging discussion, Ben McCammon, an in-house service designer with a rich background in graphic design, shares insights on harnessing personal superpowers in service design. He and guests Gina Mendolia and Irina Damascan explore unconventional strategies like 'Setting the Trap' for engagement and the 'Organ Donor Chain' model for building influence. They emphasize the importance of subtle interpersonal tools, celebrating small wins, and adapting your unique strengths within organizational dynamics to foster meaningful change.

In this conversation, Jose Coronado, a seasoned design executive and advisor, discusses the struggle of maintaining one's design identity while climbing the corporate ladder. He shares his awakening moment regarding the importance of embracing one's whole self at work, particularly his Hispanic background. The dialogue covers essential leadership skills for designers, the impact of design in business metrics, and the necessity of change management in leadership roles. Jose offers actionable advice for fostering professional growth and remaining connected to design craftsmanship.

Tingting Lin, a Product/UX professional from TheyDo, dives into the challenges of journey management in this insightful discussion. She highlights the common implementation gap where stunning journey maps fail to resonate in daily routines. Tingting emphasizes integrating journey insights into existing workflows and warns against creating parallel processes. With practical strategies, she shares how to connect project backlogs to customer journeys, making prioritization more impactful. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone looking to make customer journeys actionable!

Join Dan Szuc, a seasoned consultant and author, as he delves into the intricate world of workplace culture. He discusses how culture transcends mere company values, stressing that it is rooted in daily actions and experiences. Szuc shares practical techniques like 'practice spotting' and emphasizes the role of leadership in fostering a healthy culture. Discover how to assess and transform organizational environments for meaningful work. Listeners are urged to reflect on their contributions to creating better workplaces.

Giles Colborne, an expert in service and human-centered design, dives into the critical balance between design maturity and business growth. He reveals that organizations with high design maturity experience 9x faster growth, yet many remain 'stuck' due to poor integration. Giles emphasizes the need for designers to engage with stakeholders early and map decisions to business metrics. He outlines practical steps to enhance design effectiveness, helping teams overcome inertia and align with organizational goals for maximum impact.

Tingting Lin, a service design and journey management expert from TheyDo, shares her insights on transforming journey maps into actionable strategies. She highlights the importance of distinguishing between opportunities and solutions, emphasizing how to embed these into business processes. Tingting discusses common pitfalls, like jumping to solutions too quickly, and demonstrates how AI can aid in crafting opportunity statements. Her approach ensures that journey insights lead to measurable business impacts, driving stakeholder relevance and alignment.