When I wanted to take better care of my physical health it wasn't easy. There were many little things I had to change to make it a priority. I made time for daily exercises. I subscribed to a fitness program. I talked about it to my friends. I changed my home screen on my phone to see my progress.

The same happens at work or in organizations. If we want to change something, we start by making it a priority. We carve out time for it, set budgets, get trained, and meet people who are better at it than us.

And yes, the same goes for making our services a little bit more lovely for people and the planet(1). We need to make it a priority. We need to set aside time, allocate a budget, and do all the things we do for other priorities to make them real. For some it means adding these ideas in the strategy. For others it means having KPI that are set in the quarterly goals.

Action question

How are priorities set and made tangible in your workplace? How can you use these elements to give more priority to nature and people?

Footnotes

(1) Ness Wright talks about this in her article Principles for Designing Sustainable Services. She covers 8 other inspiring principles.

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen.

When mattress designer Joel Hügli set out to make mattresses more sustainable, he started by talking to manufacturers, experts, and users. Nothing new or fancy here. But here's one thing that made those conversations different. He asked in a naive way:

How do you do that? What makes this better? Why is it done like this?

He didn't just ask it; he asked with a tone and body language that really showed he didn't know and was curiosity. He showed he was more like a kid who really wants to learn and not like a consultant who asks why in order to find a problem (1).

This naive approach got people to open up about the deep reasons behind decisions, rules, and processes. By acting like he didn't know better, Joel got the full story and saw the root causes clearly.

Action question

What processes in your service or organization make it harder to create sustainable services or great human experiences? Who can you approach and ask true naive questions?

Footnotes

(1) A "why" question without that deep sense of naiviety can backfire as it often puts people in a defense mode. That's something I wrote about in 2019 in a principle called "Recognize that I bring something to the table" which is part of my second book in the Service Design Principles series.

Chris Voss, an ex negotiator for the FBI and the author of the book Never Split the Difference, explains in his book that "why" questions can make people defensive and he recommends instead of using questions that start with "how, what, when," etc. Those question can uncover the why in

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen.

When it comes to serving others or not killing our earth, there are basic things we can do to make this happen. They're often boring, simple, and proven to work. For example, when serving others, keeping it simply human, does wonders. But we often forget about it and are attracted by the shiny technology. Or, for sustainability, using green energy and turning off lights are basics we still sometimes ignore.

So, it's good to do a basics check now and then. Look if we're still covering the basics in our practice today.

Action question

Where could you integrate a basics check for sustainability and human experience within your work calendar? Is there an annual retreat where you could do this? Or could you just set it once in the next few months to get started?

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen.

Years ago, a community was struggling. Losing members for decades. The ones left? They hated each other and loved to be grumpy about everything.

New leaders then took an unexpected approach.

They realized that sometimes the thing you're trying to save is what's in the way. So, they decided to let the community die. No more life support. They told people, If you want to meet, fine. But for a few months, we're stopping everything and starting fresh.

Today the community has found new life, new purpose and is serving its neighborhood without grumpiness.

The lesson here isn't just about letting go of broken things and starting anew. It's that sometimes the broken thing is the real problem. And fixing it or replacing it might not be worth it.

Action question

How can you make sure that when you're doing service work, you're considering that the organization itself might be the problem?

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen.

Back when I was designing websites, I often said:

"If we make this site accessible for blind folks, it'll be better for search engines like Google too."

The idea is simple: design for those who are usually left out, and you end up making things better for everyone.

Take teaching, for example. When I'm mindful of students with ADHD, my classes become more dynamic. Guess what? Even those without ADHD benefit. They don't have to worry about it; they just get a more engaging class.

And if we're talking about nature—the flora and fauna—usually ignored, we can apply the same principle.

Action Question

Who or what is usually forgotten or excluded from your service? What are their specific needs and desires? How would you change your service if you started with them? And what benefits would this bring to your usual crowd?

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen.

When people don't sleep enough, it's as if they were drunk. That's one of the key insights that I took out from reading the book Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams (1).

When Mark Bertolini was the CEO of the health insurance company Aetna he decided to pay employees 25$ a night if they get enough sleep. That's 7 or more hours of sleep for 20 nights in a row. So your boss is giving you 500$ for sleeping well.

This is one of those crazy ideas I love. When people sleep enough they make better decisions (2). But I also think, that when people sleep enough, they stop to behave like machines. They realize they have natural needs. And if you realize that you might be also a bit more inclined to realize that the world needs a bit more rest and a more natural rythm.

Action question

How can you promote within your organization or team actions that are more natural and more slow?

Footnotes

• (1) You can find my notes and favorite quotes about the book here if you're curious.

• (1) Lack of sleep really leads to shitty decisions. In the book "The Organized Mind" there was this crazy quote:

  « Sleep deprivation was ruled to be a contributing factor in some of the most well-known global disasters: the nuclear power plant disasters at Chernobyl (Ukraine), Three Mile Island (Pennsylvania), Davis-Besse (Ohio), and Rancho Seco (California); the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez; the grounding of the cruise ship Star Princess; and the fatal decision to launch the Challenger space shuttle. »

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

When you're passionate about your work, it can feel like a drug. You get tunnel vision, and things just start happening. You move fast. Those moments are a rush. But in that rush, we might sometimes make stupid decisions. We say yes to things because we're way to motivated and in an adrenaline rush. We just want to keep things going (1). But, when everything's a sprint, you'll crash eventually. Even top sprinters need breaks for recovery.

Service creators, owners and workers need this too. Take moments to check if what you're doing still aligns with your big ideas, your values. Pause the implementation craziness to review and make sure you're not making rushed decisions. These values could be as simple as your company's core principles or as complex as consulting an ethics committee before big moves.

Action question

What values can you use as checkpoints to positively break the flow of implementation?

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.

Sometimes, a single slide change your mindset. For me, one of those was from Isabell Fringer (1).

Isabell doesn't sell the immediate effect of what she's doing. She shows that once you start working with her, it will change, A, which then affects, B, which then moves C, and finally brings you to D.

She visually shows a double ripple effects. On the top she shows in four ripples effects how her work drives revenue, and on the bottom, again in four ripple effects how it cuts costs.

We often miss this because we focus on the immediate results. But if you look deeper, you see that this big bet pays off.

So when we are pitching a big cultural change within an organization, like making our services more sustainable we can use the same slide. Initial actions might not show big changes right away. But the ripple effect? That's where the magic happens.

Ness Wright (2), shares this with her example of insulating homes or offices. Sure, it's a cost upfront. But it's not only nice for the environment. In the end it improves the quality of life and saves a shit ton of money on heating.

Action question

For which big change in your service does it make sense to showcase the 4-5 levels of ripple effect to motivate your team to embrace it?

Footnotes

• (1) She shared this in a webinar called "How To (Not) Sell Service Design" hosted by the Swiss Service Design Network.

• (2) Ness Wright is a Service Design expert and sustainability nerd, at the time of writing she's working as Senior Climate Resilience Manager at Sniffer.

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then rewrote most of it and just kept the initial notes as inspiration.

In every company, there are these smart berds who’ve already done part of the work you're trying to get done. These nerds may not have the power to make big changes, but in their little corners, they’re pushing for it.

For example, instead of starting from scratch to make your services more sustainable, find these sustainability nerds in your organization. What do they know? What have they tried? What dreams did they have that they couldn’t realize because they didn’t have the authority?

The beauty of finding these internal nerds is that they know both the subject and the context of your organization inside out. An external expert might be knowledgeable about sustainability, but they'll lack the understanding of your organization's unique complexities.

Action question

How can you find out who the sustainability nerds are within your organization?

The inspiration behind this principle

This principle is based on a conversation I had with Michel Sterckx, a project manager working on a big sustainability project for the Salvation Army in Switzerland. The conversation was in French:

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.

When it comes to sustainability or any big cultural change within an organization, there are always people who were already doing the work before the organization decided it's a priority. These people know a shit load and they know how to make the changes with your organization. So yes, you can learn a lot from them.

But it's also smart to make sure everyone else within your organization knows who these people are. So that not just you learn from them but that also others can learn from them and get inspired by them.

When an organization rewards these change-makers and makes them visible, it motivates everyone else to step up.

Action question

In your organization, how can you reward those already making positive changes? What are ways to shine a light on these people who did the hard work before it was a priority?

The inspiration behind this principle

This principle is based on a conversation I had with Michel Sterckx, a project manager working on a big sustainability project for the Salvation Army in Switzerland. The conversation was in French:

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.