Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Increase your confidence, influence, and impact (through a Professional Community)
Gold
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Share the love for this talk
Increase your confidence, influence, and impact (through a Professional Community)
Speakers: Marc Fonteijn and Ru Butler
Link:

Summary

Doing good service design is hard. You know what makes it easier? Having a supportive community of smart and generous professionals who are rooting for your success. In this session, we'll explore the power of professional communities, what makes them thrive, and help you decide if joining one is the right move for you. Plus, we'll share how to start and grow your own community based on the lessons we’ve learned from designing the community for in-house service professionals.

Key Insights

  • 49% of service design professionals do not feel connected to their peers, impacting their confidence and productivity.

  • Feeling connected doubles the likelihood of individuals perceiving that they make significant impact at their organizations.

  • The Circle community started from a simple email invitation and grew intentionally to 20 countries with a focus on quality over size.

  • A curated and selective admission process helps build trust and ensures community alignment and safety.

  • Regular, structured sessions with a familiar rhythm (biweekly meetings, themed quarterly seasons) enhance commitment and participation.

  • Slow, intentional communication avoids overwhelming members with constant notifications, encouraging presence and focus.

  • High quality personal connections, including one-to-one video calls, foster deeper trust and peer support.

  • Interactive session formats like Water Cooler (open topic, voting-based discussions) and Dinner Table (hosted, thematic, story sharing) enrich learning.

  • Active member involvement in governance through councils and working groups sustains community relevance and continuous improvement.

  • Community design is an ongoing prototype that evolves with member feedback and changing professional landscapes.

Notable Quotes

"Half of the service design professionals do not feel connected to their peers, which is significant."

"If you don’t feel connected and you’re standing alone, the challenge looks much bigger."

"Respondents who feel very connected are twice as likely to say they’re making a significant impact."

"We design a community that would be missed if it were gone for our service design leaders."

"Everyone goes through quite an extensive application process, but it was stress-free and informal."

"A regular heartbeat and familiar structure are really important principles to keep a community alive."

"Slow and intentional communication allows you to be fully present rather than distracted by constant notifications."

"High quality personal connections mean you can engage on a level playing field with serious professionals."

"We encourage one-to-one video calls to build rapport and feel comfortable reaching out for advice."

"The community is an ongoing prototype; members have a strong, frequent voice in shaping what good looks like."

Ask the Rosenbot
April Reagan
Look, Think, Act: The Futures-Smart Design Organization
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Farid Sabitov
Automatization for Large Enterprise Teams
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Rich Mironov
How Can Product Managers and UXers Help Each Other (and Why are Product Folks so Annoying Sometimes)?
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Adam Cutler
People + Places + Practices = Outcomes
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Nathan Curtis
Beyond the Toolkit: Spreading a System Across People & Products
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Caitlyn Hampton
Compass 101: Growing Your Career In A Startup World
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Phil Hesketh
Designing Accessible Research Workflows
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Benjamin Wiedmaier
Redefining Toolkits: Unbundling to Create a Perfect Match
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Brad Orego
Bringing Customer Research to More Internal Teams
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Christian Crumlish
The Pygmalion Effect: In Which a Vibe Coding Experiment Becomes a Million Lines…
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Sarah Auslander
Insights Panel
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Peter Van Dijck
Hands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Doug Powell
DesignOps and the Next Frontier: Leading Through Unpredictable Change
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Reginé Gilbert
Asking the Right Questions: Life, Hope and Moving Forward During the Pandemic
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Crystal Yan
Building a Customer-Centric Culture
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Alberto Ferreira
Making it Count: Developing a custom digital metric framework that works
2021 • QuantQual Interest Group

More Videos

Doug Powell

"There’s no faking it with this crowd."

Doug Powell

Closing Keynote: Design at Scale

November 8, 2018

Mila Kuznetsova

"Make sure children understand they can stop the session at any time, and confirm they really get that."

Mila Kuznetsova Lucy Denton

How Lessons Learned from Our Youngest Users Can Help Us Evolve our Practices

March 9, 2022

Sarah Gallimore

"The mayor wanted to shrink the neighborly bonds that the city was known for by investing in a 2030 living Monument of collaboration and community."

Sarah Gallimore

Inspire Progress with Artifacts from the Future

November 18, 2022

Lada Gorlenko

"Field usability testing showed stakeholders immediately how much value UX can add by catching issues before deployment."

Lada Gorlenko Sharbani Dhar Sébastien Malo Rob Mitzel Ivana Ng Michal Anne Rogondino

Theme 1: Discussion

January 8, 2024

Alnie Figueroa

"AI is just a better version of the tools you’re already using to refine ideas and express thoughts."

Alnie Figueroa

The Future of Design Operations: Transforming Our Craft

September 10, 2025

Landon Barnes

"Customers benchmark your company to their last best experience, often outside of your industry."

Landon Barnes

Are My Research Findings Actually Meaningful?

March 10, 2022

Emily Eagle

"Sometimes we have to murder our darlings—let go of favorite parts to let the story or design grow."

Emily Eagle

Can't Rewind: Radio and Retail

June 3, 2019

Malini Rao

"We neglected our power users during the responsive, one-size-fits-all strategy, and it really hurt us."

Malini Rao

Lessons Learned from a 4-year Product Re-platforming Journey

June 9, 2021

Asia Hoe

"Building rapport and rituals helped our remote team foster camaraderie and trust."

Asia Hoe

Partnering with Product: A Journey from Junior to Senior Design

November 29, 2023