We spend an enormous amount of time into thinking how things should start (1). Service creators and owners spend also a good chunk of time thinking about how people use the services they offer to the world. But only a fraction of us thinks about how a service ends.

The big specialist on this is Joe Macleod who says he is the founder of the “worlds first customer ending business” (2).

This is especially important to think about when a service has some material impact. For example, is it needed that at the end of a webinar or conference we keep the full recording of it (3)? 

Action question

What stays at the end of your service? Is this stuff needed? Can you reduce how much resources it needs or just remove it?

Footnotes

(1) The whole field of marketing is about getting people to buy or start using a service.

(2) Learn more about Joe and find his books here: Joe Macleod. Who is Joe? AndEnd. Available at https://swis.ac/joe accessed 24 November 2024. 

(3)  Yes that’s the type of questions I’m still thinking about as someone who organizes a lot of remote conferences and workshops and everyone wants the recording once it ends.

The inspiration

We discussed this principle with Service Design and sustainability nerd Haley Anderson. Watch that part of the interview here.

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.