Ask me anything – Authors of Service Design: From Insight to Implementation
This video is featured in the Rosenfeld Authors Answer Your Questions playlist.
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
The second edition connects service design closely with digital product thinking, reflecting its rise since 2013.
-
•
Digital products are often service experiences rather than owned goods, making integrated service design critical.
-
•
New product-focused organizational silos have replaced older ones, yet service design helps reconnect these for better customer experience.
-
•
Organizational silos exist for efficiency and specialization, so service design must work dynamically with this reality rather than eliminate silos entirely.
-
•
The second edition added a chapter on using service design as an organizational change methodology.
-
•
Metrics in service design have matured, with stronger correlations to performance and customer retention, especially in public sector projects.
-
•
Case studies in the new edition come from diverse sectors and regions, showing wider adoption and social proof of effectiveness.
-
•
Artifacts like customer journey maps have become democratized but risk becoming tick-box exercises without true organizational engagement.
-
•
Adapting service design requires understanding different organizational logics (engineering, clinical, commercial) and cultural contexts (e.g., US vs Europe).
-
•
Effective onboarding is a high-value area for service design to bridge silos between sales and customer maintenance teams.
Notable Quotes
"Service design was originally formulated as the alternative to product thinking, but digital products are actually mostly service experiences."
"Organizations say they want to break down silos but often create new ones in product teams; service design helps reconnect them."
"Silos exist for good reasons like efficiency and specialization; service design works within that dynamic rather than erasing silos."
"The new chapter in the second edition looks at service design as a change methodology for organizations, recognizing how ambitious it can be."
"The proof of service design’s effectiveness is now out there in the growing diversity of case studies and practitioner voices."
"Customer journeys used to be specialist knowledge, but now they’re a normalized, even commodified, organizational artifact."
"Many new adopters use service design artifacts as a tick-box exercise rather than embracing the mindset change required."
"You have to socialize service design within organizations considering their dominant logic — whether engineering, clinical, or commercial."
"Europe has leaned more into public sector service design work, which impacts the kinds of metrics and approaches seen in the book."
"Onboarding a new customer well bridges silos between acquisition and maintenance and produces enormous monetary rewards."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Tech workers in the UK are five times more depressed than the UK average, with stress killing creativity."
Dr. Karl JeffriesThe Science of Creativity for DesignOps
January 8, 2024
"There’s been a huge convergence because everybody’s got a mobile device now and expects a certain kind of experience."
Amy MarquezINVEST: Discussion
June 15, 2018
"Pilot projects with evangelists inside the company make ethnography manageable and successful."
Steve Portigal Chris Chapo Kelly Goto Christian RohrerDiscussion
May 13, 2015
"It took a lot of relationship building and conversations to break down the perception that designers' time was owned by particular teams."
Alicia MootyDesign Staffing Models
September 30, 2021
"I believe there's really no such thing as a boring place at the state of mind."
Ana Maria Montero Barrantes Aditi Dhar Michelle Kaplan Nate Osborne Matt LaurenceThe Authentic UX Talent Show
January 8, 2024
"We never compromise on the business goals, but how we achieve them can be flexible and pragmatic."
Lada Gorlenko Sharbani Dhar Sébastien Malo Rob Mitzel Ivana Ng Michal Anne RogondinoTheme 1: Discussion
January 8, 2024
"The legacy of folders and nested structures causes real problems in finding research and scaling repositories."
Sofia QuinteroThe Product Philosophy Behind EnjoyHQ
March 10, 2021
"Nobody loves it when someone from another department shows up to tell people how to do their jobs better."
Laura KleinUnique challenges of innovation in enterprises
April 23, 2020
"My playlist changed drastically when my son was born, but data alone wouldn’t explain why."
Andrew MichaelBuilding a Product Insights Team
March 10, 2022
