Here is a the overview of all the new Service Design content I've created in the last week:

• 4 new video answers to common Service Design questions:

  1. Myths: What are some of the biggest misunderstandings and myths about service design?

  2. Philosophy: Does every service need service design or just a specific type?

  3. Research: What are different types of research insights?

  4. Framework: What's a good framework to differentiate the different roles of stakeholders in a project?

• 2 backstage blog articles:

  1. Productivity: The weekly review and planning session that works for me

  2. Video: How much do I script and mess up the recording of my Q&A videos

• An invitation to my next live Service Design Q&A webinar with the Swiss Service Design Network

Greetings from Basel, Switzerland,

Daniele 🧔🏻‍♂️

p.s. As always, you'll find all below for when you have the time to read this newsletter.

Service Design Q&A

I'm slowly building a library of answers to the most common questions about Service Design. Here are the new ones:

What are some of the biggest misunderstandings and myths about service design?

1. Service design is all about making beautiful or easy services.
   Not always, sometimes good Service Design is about making processes longer and harder so that you get time to reflect (like before doing a vasectomie)

2. Service design is complicated.
   No, it's rather that the words people use to describe it are too fancy and complicated. The work is rather simple.

3. Service design is only for big corporations.
   No, it can be done at an individual level, so even a small barber shop could use it.

4. Service Design is a profession.
   No it's rather a skill that can be used in many professions. Sure there are some super nerds like me who made it their profession, but for most it's just another skill in their toolbox.

5. Service design is better than X, Y, Z.
   No. Let's not have another religion or denomination war. Instead let's recognize that some tools fit better certain contexts, projects and cultures. Sometimes Service Design is the better fit, sometimes it's the worse fit.

Does every service need service design or just a specific type?

The short answer is: Yes every service needs service design, because:

You cannot not design your service.

In fact, anything that happens in a service is a choice made by someone.

In some way we can say that every type of service owner or team practices service design skills.

What are different types of research insights?

A research insight is anything that you've learned from doing user or field research that you feel is actually useful for your project and doesn't trigger the reaction "so what?!".

But not all insights are equal and I like to to separate them in research reports to create clarity for decision makers.

I often use two categorizations:

1. Validated vs inspiring: where validated insights are things that I heard often and are inspiring, and where inspiring insights are things that are wildly and strongly emotional, disruptive or inspiring but haven't been expressed by many.

2. Simple vs Complex: where I separate insights that are simple answers (like a "yes or no") to simple questions and complex answers to complex questions (like a "it depends on this, and that...").

What's a good framework to differentiate the different roles of stakeholders in a project?

The View, Voice, Vote, Veto framework helps to clarify the roles and types of feedback that you expect from the people you're working with.

Such a framework can help:

1. Kickoff new project: by clarifying the roles and power

2. Understand the culture: by seeing how many people need to be involved and how much

3. Give better feedback: by saying what type of feedback you're sharing, is it a "voice", a "vote" or a "veto". Or are you just telling me you "view"ed it.

4. Create a common language: by giving four words to more easily describe the expectations we have about feedback.

This framework can also help create a "participation funnel":

In such a funnel you engage more people with the "view" role than with the "veto" role, and helps you to not forget to communicate and get feedback internally.

Blog

I love to explain how I'm building educational content. I'm trying to be as transparent as possible so that it might motivate others to create such content too. These are the latest blog posts I've written: