We've got a serious problem...
The "higher" you climb on the career ladder, the further removed you get from the actual discipline of design.
Unfortunately, it's a story I hear surprisingly often.
A design professionals finally gets that hard-earned seat at the table, and almost immediately, the pressure to conform kicks in.
They start to feel like they have to trade their unique perspective for a corporate persona, leaving their design identity, the very thing that got them there in the first place, at the door.
Our guest this week, Jose Coronado, shares a personal story that actually goes right to the heart of this issue.
When he first moved to the U.S. he consciously separated his professional life from his Hispanic background in an effort to belong and be seen.
The shift only came years later, after he organized a panel for Hispanic Heritage Month. The feedback he received hit him hard.
People told him, "Jose, thank you for doing this. I have never seen myself reflected in my future as a potential leader in the design field".
That experience was the moment he realized the power of bringing our "whole self" to work, and the danger of hiding parts of our identity.
So in this episode, we explore this identity crisis.
How do you evolve into a business leader without abandoning your design soul?
And I can already share that it's not about renouncing your craft, but rather enriching it with new layers.
It’s about learning to navigate the politics and negotiations of an organization while still proudly carrying the flag for design.
If you feel trapped between the design professional you are and the leader you're expected to be, this one will surely resonate.
What I loved about this conversation is the nuance it brings. I'm sure you've heard that "designers need to speak business" but what's often missing is the crucial second half of that advice, we must do it with our design expertise, identity, and skills. Business speak should enrich design, not replace it.
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 240
04:00 The great shift
06:00 The catalyst
08:00 Design Leadership and Why We Have to Talk About It
09:30 Design's Growing Pains
12:00 3 Levels of Leadership
13:00 Craftsmanship, Stagemanship, and Statesmanship
16:00 Mastering Stagemanship:
17:45 What we're doing wrong
20:00 Developing Business Fluency
22:00 Understanding the context
26:30 Low-Effort Ways to Gain Business Knowledge
33:00 The Challenge of Invisibility
35:00 Patience vs. Incompetence
37:45 Building Trust
39:00 The Design Measurement Problem
41:00 Tangibility of Impact
44:00 Navigating conversations like that
46:45 Finance Conversations
48:00 Connecting Process, Service Improvement, and Design
51:45 Internal Struggle and Mindset Evolution
55:00 Embracing out identity
57:30 Maintaining Connection to the Craft
59:00 Deliver in commitment
1:01:00 Question to ponder
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
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[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]
Here's the big problem with journey maps...
It's often like you've composed a masterpiece, but no one is there to actually play it.
This is what I feel when I see a carefully crafted map (our version of "music on paper"), which ultimately fails to make an impact.
Sure, we do the research, map the insights, and identify opportunities, but on Monday morning, everyone just goes back to their old routines, checking off to-do items in Jira, ClickUp, or Asana.
The map becomes an impressive visual, but it's disconnected from the way work is done.
This is the implementation gap, and it's where most journey management efforts fail.
So in episode 7 of the Journey Management Playbook series, Tingting Lin and I address this exact problem head-on.
This isn't a guide about what to map rather, it's about how to plug your insights into the operational reality of your organization.
We're moving beyond the theory and into the practical, day-to-day workflow.
I even share my own project management setup, share how things get done in my business and we discuss how to bridge the gap between my project list and the customer journey.
In this episode, you'll hear:
* Why creating a "parallel workflow" for journey management is a recipe for failure.
* How to "plug into" your organization's existing ceremonies.
* A practical way to reverse-engineer your team's current project backlog and to connect it back to the journey.
* The right way to use prioritization matrixes to spark stakeholder conversations and grow alignment.
So if you want to make your journeys the driving force behind your daily decisions, not just another document lost on a hard drive or fading away on the wall, make sure you don't miss this one.
--- [1. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 2. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to TheyDo EP 07
02:00 Implementation gap
03:00 Defining the Operational Workflow
06:00 The Practical Challenge
09:00 Connecting the Triple Diamond to the Music Metaphor
12:45 Understanding the big picture
15:30 Connecting the churn-reduction journey map
16:30 Journey Management to Project Management
19:30 Modeling initiatives in TheyDo to show a successful integration approach
21:30 How to Model Initiatives in TheyDo for Journey Linkage
24:00 Linking Initiatives to Opportunities/Journeys
25:30 Scoring Initiatives by Impact and Effort
28:00 Connecting Discovery (TheyDo) to Delivery (ClickUp/JIRA)
30:15 Context in the Journey Tool
32:00 Bi-directional Synchronization
34:00 How to set up the connectio
35:45 Understanding the Organizational Workflow
37:30 Handoffs between the Triple Diamond Workflow
39:00 How to Implement the Workflow
41:00 The needed Cultural shift
42:00 Impact driven language
44:30 How to handle non-journey work
47:00 The Workflow is not a Designer's Job Alone
49:00 Recap: The 4 steps
50:30 Journey of the Journey Manager
54:30 Journey Framework for Strategic Alignment
56:30 Ensuring Business Value
58:00 Scaling and Governance
1:02:30 Coming Up Next
--- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---
What is the thing biggest stopping you from doing meaningful work...
When I listen to the service design professionals around me, it's often not the tools or methods they have access to.
Rather, and you might recognize this, its often the organizational culture that's the biggest roadblock.
Culture isn't the set of company values that are displayed on the wall. If only things were so simple
Culture is materialized by actions. It's made up of the lived experiences of the people doing the work day in and day out.
So, if the existing org culture is a roadblock, how can we change it?
Because as we know, if there is one thing that's great at resisting change, it's culture.
And do we even have a place here as service design professionals. Isn't this the field of expertise of strategy consultants?
Well, our guest, Dan Szuc has been working on this question for the last 20 years.
He's so deep into it that he written two books on this topic Make Meaningful Work and Make Meaningful Culture.
And the good news is that, yes culture is 100% an area where we need to play a role.
We can look at culture as a design material that can be shaped.
In this episode we explore how that works in practice, where you even start and the pitfalls that you should be mindful.
We get into practical techniques like "practice spotting", talk about "moments that matter" and explore the influence of leadership (and lack of it).
This episode is for everyone who want's to contribute to making "shitty" work environments into ones that are better equipped to help you do meaningful work!
Culture often feels like a huge, intangible and sometimes even scary topic to touch.
I hope that this conversation help see that there are small, practical, tangible actions you can do to start shaping a better culture today and the confidence to do so!
Enjoy and keep making a positive impact.
Be well,
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 239
04:00 Culture at work
04:30 Moving Beyond "Soft Skills"
06:45 Professional Acting to Organizational Culture
10:30 Introducing SPARKLE
13:00 the SPARKLE Acronym
16:00 Small Acts, Big Change
23:30 Power of Practice Spotting
30:30 Why People Hesitate to Change
34:00 Rules vs. Practice
41:00 How to do practice spotting
45:30 Challenge of Engagement
50:30 Introducing New Practices to Your Team
54:30 Small Practice to Organizational Shift
57:00 Best case transformation
1:00:15 What Dan is Working on Next
1:02:30 Resources
1:04:30 Question to ponder
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.
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-- [ 4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---
I recently started playing Padel...
And like with all my new hobbies, I enjoy getting good gear.
So after some research, I treated myself to a racket from the higher end of the market.
Now, when I'm on the court playing and lose, I could (might) complain that my racket sucks.
That it was "false advertising" because all the specs indicate that this is almost an unbeatable racket.
But let's be honest, we both know that's probably not the case.
It’s far more likely that I just don't yet know how to use this new "tool" to its fullest potential.
You may be surprised to learn that this is strikingly similar to what happens in many organizations.
They invest in building a service design capability, but after a while, they complain that it’s not delivering the game-changing results they hoped for.
So, does service design suck?
Well, according to the research our guest Giles Colborne has done, the answer is a definitive no. In fact, he found that companies with high design maturity grow at 9x times(!) the pace of everyone else.
The problem, as Giles argues, isn't the tool. It's the interface between the design team and the rest of the business.
It's like spending a small fortune on that pro-level racket, only to hold it upside down in the wrong hand, and then wonder why you're not winning any games.
When organizations bring in service design without creating the right conditions for success, they end up frustrated and disillusioned.
So, what can we do about it?
The go-to response I often see in our field is that we tend to shout louder, to do a "roadshow" and "educate" the business on our value. But Giles explains why this is actually often the least effective approach.
That's why in this episode, we explore how we can stop explaining the tool and start changing the way our organizations use it, making it easier for them to unlock its full potential.
What's great about this is that it helps shift the perception of service design from an afterthought, a "nice-to-have" for keeping customers happy, to an engine for growth. And once that clicks, it becomes a whole different game. Now, I'm just hoping the same will be true for my padel skills...
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact.
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 238
01:00 Proving Measurable Impact
03:30 Design is seen as a 'Nice-to-Have'
05:00 The Board's View: Money First, UX Second
08:30 The Checkout Gail
11:00 Research: 9x Growth via Design Maturity
15:00 The "Messy Middle" is an Interface Problem
17:45 Stakeholder Trap: "Build Us One of These"
22:15 Strategy: Investigate, Don't Educate
26:30 Flipping the narrative
28:30 Why Benefits Don't Resonate
30:30 The "Gaslighting" Feeling
33:30 Design is Not Incompatible with Business
35:30 The Next Level: Culture and Governance
36:45 Example: Flipping Compliance
38:45 Process vs. Culture
32:00 Start Point: Ask About Business Goals
43:15 What the Org Really Values (Cost)
44:45 Tough Questions for Stakeholders
46:45 Anchoring CX in Governance
49:00 Our Role in Measurement
51:45 Mapping Value to Commander's Intent
54:00 The Uncomfortable Aspect of Rigor
57:30 Cultivating Confidence in Your Toolkit
59:45 Leadership Over Arrogance
1:03:00 3 Final Key Takeaways
1:06:30 Resource Use: Automation and AI
1:07:15 Question to Ponder
1:08:15 Resources
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.
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-- [ 4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---
Do you ever wonder about the "so what?" of your journey maps...
To this day, I often see that journey mapping is treated as a "documentation" exercise.
Basically as a way to visualize our customers experiences. And while having that visual overview is useful, it's just the beginning.
As you probably know, the real challenge is turning that understanding into action that actually impacts your customers (and your business). Not a small challenge by any means.
That's why this episode of The Journey Management Playbook is fully dedicated to it.
We're already into episode six of the series, and if you haven't seen the previous ones, you can find the full playlist in the show notes.
So far, we've gone from defining a business challenge to using AI to generate and enrich insights. We’ve covered how to structure and simplify your journey to be more action-biased.
But all of that work is just a foundation.
The journey map we've created is a reflection of the current state, and the key question still remains: What do we do now?
In this episode, Tingting Lin from TheyDo and I finally answer that question. We dive into the crucial building blocks of opportunities and solutions, and you’ll see what is key to turning your journey maps from static documents into dynamic drivers of lasting business impact.
We also tackle a few common pitfalls to avoid like:
As you'll hear, this episode is again packed with practical advice to help you move beyond mapping to true journey management in the most effective way.
What are your biggest challenges in moving from insights to action? Leave a comment on YouTube or Spotify, or reach out on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you.
Enjoy and keep making a positive impact!
Be well,
~ Marc
---[1. LINKS 🔗 ] ---
👉 Playbook Slides - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/ofmtc
✅ Sign up for TheyDo - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/prcde
--- [ 2. GUIDE ] ---
01:00 Recap from previous episode
04:00 Core Problem with Static Journey Maps
06:00 Introducing the "Solutions" Building Block
10:00 Defining "Opportunities"
12:00 The triple diamond workflow
15:30 Real-world opportunity
16:00 Why we separate Opportunities & Solution
18:30 Where to look for the opportunity first
22:00 Off-boarding Problem as a Case Study
24:30 Connecting the Problem to the Solution Quickly
28:00 Distinguishing Between Problems and Opportunities
32:00 Pain Point to an Opportunity
36:30 Importance of Language in Naming Opportunities
38:00 Debate About Using AI in this Process
40:00 Who are we writing these opportunities for
45:00 Connecting Opportunities to Strategic Objectives
47:00 Summary of Opportunities
49:00 Transitioning to "Solution" Blocks
51:00 Example of a Concrete Solution
59:45 Practicality of Using Solution Types
1:02:00 Defining Statuses
1:06:00 Connecting Solutions to Opportunities
1:08:00 Final Summary
--- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---
The things service design professionals have to deal with...
Okay, so your boss tells you drive to a place with “a great view,” hands a full tank of gas, and wished good luck. Oh and by the way, we need to be there in 30-days, no compass, no map.
Now take a guess, how likely is it that after a month you'll have arrived at exactly the location they had in mind. I'd say anything higher than 0 is an optimistic perspective.
This sounds pretty absurd, right? But I'm not making it up.
But how often have you been in that exact situation at work?
The destination is vague, nobody can tell you where you are today, and there’s no way to know if your actions are actually moving you in the right direction.
And the cherry on top is when you're asked for hard evidence that you're getting closer, while someone else gets praised for reporting a higher average speed than last week. Yeah, but dude, are we even moving in the right direction? So painful and frustrating.
If you didn’t know better, you might think this is the plot of a bad comedy. But based on the conversations I'm having, this isn't an exception; it's the daily reality for most of you.
So, what are we going to do about it?
Even though the situation might feel a bit hopeless, the good news is that it’s certainly not.
Last year, I had Stacey Barr on the show to talk about measurement. She’s spent her career becoming an expert in using measures as a truth seeker.
Guess what that conversation became the most-watched episode of the year.
In this episode, Stacey is back to show us how to untangle this mess.
There’s a remarkably simple process, that looks a lot like design, to get from vague goals to meaningful measures, clear targets, and effective actions.
It’s a method that gives you real leverage to achieve the impact you want to make.
So if you want to learn how to put measures in place that are actually meaningful, prove your work is moving the needle, and do it with more confidence, definitely don’t miss this episode.
What's becoming clear to me is that we’re actually really good at this. We thrive in scenarios where things are undefined. We know how to figure stuff out and iterate our way forward. So once you grasp that finding the right measurements is just another design challenge, you might actually start looking forward the process...
Enjoy and keep making a positive impact!
Be well
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 237
03:45 Measurement's surprising popularity
04:30 Stacey Barr on Service Design
06:00 Breaking down the measurement puzzle
09:00 Measuring for empowerment
10:00 addressing the gap
16:30 Company cultures
22:30 Beyond shipping stuff
23:30 The problem when starting with measures
24:00 What does influence actually mean
27:00 Reverse engineering the goal
29:00 The Net Promoter Score Trap
32:00 Measuring across silos
34:00 Challenge of individual KPIs and quotas
37:00 Strategies for creating paradigm shifts
40:30 Setting meaningful targets
45:45 Challenge of human-related data
52:45 defining and measuring the gap
56:45 Casuality vs correlation
01:1:45 The patience to shift big goals
1:03:45 The PUMP Results Map
1:04:15 Introducing PUMP Light
1:07:00 Where to Sign Up
1:07:45 Discount for the program
1:08:15 Question to ponder
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. PROMO ] ---
Use code SDS10 to get 10% off the PuMP Lite program, running November 11-13 and 25-26, 2025.
--- [ 4. CIRCLE ] ---
Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.
https://servicedesignshow.com/circle
--- [ 5. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---
Are you tired of proving the value of service design… over and over again?
Well, I'm happy to share that you're not alone. It's one of the most common frustrations I hear from professionals in our field.
You work hard, you get a win, you move the needle... and then the next project starts, and it feels like you're right back at square one, making the case all over again. Sound familiar.
Many of us feel stuck in this endless "prove it" loop, wondering how to get service design to move from a special invitation to a fundamental expectation.
So, how do you break the cycle? How do you build momentum that lasts?
That’s the challenge we take head on in this episode of our Inside Service Design series.
In this series we explore the real, unpolished practice of driving change from within organizations.
For this conversation, I was joined by two brilliant in-house professionals, Nancy Samayoa and Sara Langston, who are deep in the reality of this work every day.
They share some honest and insightful perspectives on this struggle.
As with all the conversations in this series what you'll be getting isn't just some interesting theory. It's a practical guide to shifting your mindset from chasing big, elusive victories to appreciating the daily progress that ultimately leads to lasting change.
So if you’re ready to hear how to play the long game and find sustainable ways to make an impact, this conversation is for you.
I'm curious, have you made a habit of celebrating the small, "invisible" wins? If so how are you doing that? And if no, what's stopping you?
Enjoy the conversation!
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to August Round Up
04:30 Sara's unexpected journey in service design
06:30 Unexpected transferability of skills
09:30 Nancy's path from architecture to service design
12:30 "Gung-ho" applicant and a surprising hiring manager
14:30 Challenges of working on in-house projects
17:30 The "ooh," "ah," and "oh no" moments
19:30 How service designers are approached for projects
20:30 Service design as a perceived "threat" in government
23:00 Linking service design activities to positive outcomes
25:30 Getting past the "endless proof" stage
28:30 Garden metaphor = design maturity
31:45 Challenge of getting from the "prove" to the "scale" stage
33:45 Risk of service design
36:30 Applying models without feeling disheartened
38:00 What scaffolding looks like in service design
40:30 Focusing on celebrating the wins
42:00 Why we tend to focus on problems over success stories
43:15 Redefining success and progress
44:00 How Nancy views her wins
46:00 The Circle as an extended SD team
48:15 Sara's expectations
51:15 Nancy's service design expectations
52:45 SD skill: Relationship building
56:45 Treating stakeholder relationships like a research project
57:00 Other key skill: Curiosity
59:30 Question to ponder
1:02:15 Final words of wisdom from Sara
1:03:30 Final words of wisdom from Nancy
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.
https://servicedesignshow.com/circle
--- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---
I'm sure you've seen the news...
At the outset, the recent announcement of the "America by Design" initiative and the new "National Design Studio" is quite exciting. It’s a huge spotlight on our field.
But it also feels a bit strange, doesn't it?
Because it wasn’t so long ago that the US government had 18F, an entire organization dedicated to improving the user experience of its services. And then, in early 2025, it was deemed "non-essential" and unceremoniously "deleted".
One of the people right in the middle of it all was our guest, Ron Bronson. As the Head of Design at 18F, he was at the forefront of applying service design within the complexities of government.
So, you can imagine that when Ron sat down with me for the conversation, it wasn’t just a walk in the park.
We dove into some juicy questions that challenge the very core of our practice.
I can assure you, this is a conversation that will get you out of your comfort zone in the best way possible.
So, if you’re ready to be challenged with some fresh perspectives, make sure you tune in to this one.
Even though we tackle some pretty huge topics in the episode, Ron brings it all back to a simple, powerful idea right at the end of the conversation. Can you take a guess? (Hint: it’s about zooming in, not out ).
Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact!
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 236
04:00 Who is Ron
05:30 Service design is too opaque
07:45 Importing service design to the US
09:30 Conversations designers should be having
10:00 The "best service experience" during a crisis
12:50 The Trojan Horse strategy for designers
14:30 Creating a "pull" for service design from within
17:30 The power of doing "uninvited" work
23:00 Examples of a golden nugget
26:00 Trust as a core deliverable
27:00 What students get wrong about design
29:45 The gap between conferences and reality
32:00 Idea of consequence design
34:30 Design as repair: A new mindset
37:30 The "forward deployed" designer.
39:30 What would change if we adopt this mindset
45:00 Making service design ubiquitous
46:30 Right way to frame a problem
48:30 Are organizations in the service business?
51:30 The blessing & curse of "doing the work"
54:15 How he hopes service design would look in 3-5 years
57:00 AI: A blank space for service designers
59:15 Questions to ask about AI
1:01:14 Malicious path vs. ideal path
1:02:45 A question to ponder
1:04:30 What can you fix
1:07:15 Get in touch
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.
https://servicedesignshow.com/circle
--- [ 4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---
All you want to do is run away…
Okay, so you’re standing in a boardroom overlooking a beautiful vineyard, leading a workshop for a major client, and the only thing that's going through your mind is: How do I get out of there?
This was a real moment for this episode's guest, Ben Rennie.
And it's a feeling that I think many of us can relate to, even if the setting is different (vineyards sound good though).
We’ve all heard stories of people who achieve incredible success. The entrepreneur, the athlete, the professional, only to end up feeling empty and miserable.
They had their eye on "the prize," did everything to get it, but upon achieving their goal, they end up more unhappy than before.
Well, this story is about what happens next.
Ben co-founded a design agency that, by all external measures, was a huge success.
He was working for leading brands and riding the wave.
But one day, during that exact workshop overlooking the vineyard, he had enough.
He quit his own agency.
That single decision sparked a new journey, one full of unknowns.
But one thing was certain: Ben was going to rebuild his life around work that was deeply meaningful and aligned with his core values.
He traded fossil fuel clients for partnerships with Patagonia, driven by a new manifesto that took him 15 minutes to write on a piece of paper, not days in a boardroom.
For me, Ben’s story is a powerful reminder that we need to define what success truly looks like for ourselves... before it’s too late.
So how do we define that? And what can we do to get one step closer to it every single day?
That's what we're exploring in this episode.
The message of this episode is so important, and surely not solely limited to service design.
Because when you spend your most precious possession — your time and energy — for often 40+ hours a week, it better be towards something that gives you fulfilment and pride.
The stakes are just too high.
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to the show
04:30 What is creativity?
07:00 The price we pay
08:30 The imposter syndrome story
10:30 The two lives
13:30 A different turn
17:00 Momentum without boundaries
19:00 From profit to purpose
20:00 How Patagonia became a client
22:00 What is systemic design?
23:30 Creativity as confidence
33:30 What needs to change?
36:45 A word of advice
41:00 The accountability of design
42:30 Transition design examples
45:00 Vote with your money
50:00 A good starting point
52:30 Legacy for the next generation
54:00 Questions about creativity
57:00 Fewer experts, more curiosity
59:00 Resources
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.
https://servicedesignshow.com/circle
---[ 4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---
What makes time go fast for you, and what makes it go slow...
It's a powerful question that might just help you find more meaning and heck, yes even more joy in your work.
We see a brighter future, but the system moves slowly. This mismatch can lead to frustration and burnout. What if the secret to creating change wasn't about the system, but about you?
In this conversation with Martha Edwards, a public sector veteran, we talk about powerful personal habits that keep her effective and optimistic.
In this episode we explore topics like:
How to find satisfaction in work that might not bear fruit for years
Why the energy you bring to a room is one of your most powerful professional tools
And how a simple practice like writing "week notes" can be a hack to recognize your small wins and give you the motivation to keep going.
This framing takes the pressure off and allows us to be kinder to ourselves, knowing we’ve contributed a piece to a larger, longer story. I'm curious if this metaphor resonate with you too.
Enjoy the episode and keep planing seeds .
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 234
04:00 The current state of public sector design
07:30 How Systemic Uncertainty Affects Designers
08:30 From "Designer" to "Public Servant"
09:30 Finding Meaning in Government Work
12:30 How she can find herself still grateful
16:00 Big learnings: working as a creative writer
18:00 Seeing a "Parallel Universe" at UK's GDS
20:00 Avoid the "Design Colonialist" Mindset
22:30 How it shifted
23:30 government digital service to canadian government
28:30 How Sharing Work Waters the Seeds of Change
30:30 what she recommends to share
36:30 staying patient in a government organization
38:00 how do we navigate that?
43:30 Exercise to Recognize Your "Small" Wins
45:15 Being flexible with your role in the public service industry
48:30 How to Make Smart Compromises
54:30 Finding Your Joy
57:30 Question to ponder
59:30 Connect with Martha
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
Readings:
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
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What if we’ve been led down the wrong path…
When it comes to service design, we’re often told the main goal is to break down silos. And that makes sense, right?
Our organizations are structured vertically, but the experiences we design flow horizontally. This clash creates friction, so the natural instinct is to declare war on silos.
But what if that’s sending us in the wrong direction?
Silos exist for a reason; they bring focus and efficiency to specific tasks. The real problem is often the broken connection between them. So, what if instead of trying to eliminate silos, we focused on repairing them?
In this episode, I talk with Ellen Pittman, a researcher who shares a fascinating case study from a high-stakes organization struggling to meet a critical, time-sensitive performance target. On the surface, the pressure was on a single department to solve it.
But as they dug deeper, they discovered the true bottleneck wasn't in that department at all, or even on the organizational chart. The real roadblocks were less visible and far more human.
So what does it take to overcome these hidden barriers?
Ellen found a specific mix of ingredients that allowed them to collaborate across team boundaries and address the issue with great success.
In our conversation, we explore what those ingredients are and why it seems so hard for most organizations to get them right.
This episode has the potential to reframe your thoughts on silos, leadership, and the roadblocks you think are in your way.
A theme that I really loved exploring was how easily organizational metrics can be "gamed". We've all seen it, you hit the target but miss the actual goal... we talk about antidote in the episode.
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact.
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 233
05:00 Vertical vs. Horizontal Structures
06:00 Ellen's Journey into Healthcare Change
07:30 Hospital Case Study
10:30 Real Challenge: System-Wide Impact
12:30 Breaking Silos: A Hospital's Approach
15:30 Leadership Beyond KPIs: True Purpose
23:30 Top-Down Initative, Bottom-Up Ownership
25:30 The Consultant's Fear of ED Patients
27:45 Overcoming Fear with Data Experiments
30:00 Data as Curiosity, Not Blame
35:30The CEO's Risky Vulnerability
39:30 Leadership Flexibility: When to Take Control
44:30 Repairing Silos vs. Breaking Them
45:30 Overcoming Jadedness
48:30 Reconnecting to Shared Purpose
52:30 Principles Etched in Minds, Not Walls
55:30 Why Cultural Change Takes Time
59:00 Insulating Change at Every Level
1:01:00 Leaders & The System: Mutual Understanding
1:04:00 Alan's Book: The Hive Model of Fluidity
1:07:45 Question to Ponder
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I have to admit, even I got stuck...
Recently, I was working on the onboarding journey for my Circle community.
What started as a flexible journey inside a Miro board very quickly became a complex map that became impossible to use.
With every new insight we wanted to add came questions about where it should go and how it should be defined. Due to these meta-level questions, we lost momentum, and the entire process slowed to a halt.
Unintentionally, I had created a journey structure that was simply too complex to be useful in practice.
Finding the right balance between structure and flexibility, as well as richness and overview, in your journeys is a challenge many of us face.
That's why it's the next big problem we tackle in our Journey Management Playbook series.
In the past episodes, we've used AI to generate a journey and then verified it to build trust. Now, we need to make it truly manageable.
The core issue is that we often treat journey maps as containers for all information, when their true power lies in driving action.
So, as we've said often, we need to shift our mindset from "journey mapping" to "journey management".
The key is a simple yet powerful framework for structuring your journey.
* What if the most effective journey had a specific, limited number of lanes?
* What if there was a rule for how many steps you should have (maximum)?
* What if there was a simple way to handle complexity without cluttering your main map?
In this episode, Tingting reveals the proven framework that helps you answer these questions.
With this framework, you'll be able to transform your map from a static document into a practical tool that teams can use to make informed decisions.
Heads-up, this is another deep-dive where we get into the nitty-gritty details.
We spend a lot of time sharing our screen, so if you're listening to the audio-only version, I highly recommend opening the accompanying slides to follow along visually.
We've also included timestamps in the description, so you can easily jump back to a specific topic later on.
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 2. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 5
03:00 Meet Tingting: Journey Coach
05:00 Short articles at the end
06:00 Series Recap
07:00 Next Steps: Filling Your Journey
10:00 Action-Biased Journeys
15:30 Simplifying your journe
17:30 Workflow First: Not Just Visuals
19:55 Journey Map Evolution (V1 vs V2)
27:00 Why Fewer Lanes Work
29:10 Triple Diamond Workflow
33:40 Framework Over Flexibility
38:30 Nested journeys
41:20 Lane Owners & Stakeholders
45:30 Offboarding Journey Example
49:00 Automatic Data Roll-Up
50:00 Actionable Insights > Stories
54:15 As-Is vs. To-Be Approaches
1:00:30 Key Takeaways: Structure Tips
1:04:00 Next Episode Preview
1:04:50 Connect With TheyDo
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Everyone wants change, just not for themselves…
I remember a great experiment we used to do back in my agency days.
At the start of a workshop, we'd ask everyone to put on a prop.
It could be a hat, a pair of oversized glasses, or even a superhero cape. After some initial laughter, everyone usually played along.
But the interesting part wasn't putting the props on. It was what happened in the minutes that followed.
As we started the "official" program, the first person would quietly take their prop off.
Then a second would follow, and so on. At no point had I instructed them to stop wearing the props, yet, one by one, they always did.
It was a powerful way to confront the group with the strong pull towards conformity.
Towards the default mode of doing things. Towards getting back in line.
As service design professionals, we know that to create meaningful change, we have to challenge the way things are currently done.
But doing anything outside the status quo is inherently risky, especially when the incentive structures in our organizations are set up to reward those who play it safe.
To break free, you need a magic ingredient: courage.
But how do you build this courage?
And why would you risk your career when it’s so much easier to conform?
Those are the big questions we explore in a fascinating conversation with Alberta Soranzo. As you'll hear, Alberta has lived these questions.
She shares powerful stories about what it takes to create change.
From convincing a client to choose a risky, unknown path over the safe bet, to the surprisingly profound impact of a personal choice about her own hair.
We also get into what it really means for leaders to provide ‘air cover’ for their teams and how you can find the courage to challenge the system even when you feel powerless — without burning yourself out in the process.
I'm confident that you’ll walk away with some unique insights from this honest conversation about leadership, courage, and taking risks.
If you've been following along with the past few episodes, I think you'll start to see a clear pattern emerging.
When multiple guests, independently of each other, touch on the same topics, it's probably something we should all be paying more attention to.
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact.
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 232
05:00 Why Courage is Key for Organizational Magic
09:30 Two Business Breakthroughs
15:00 The "Change" Illusion
17:30 Signals of true organizational change
22:30 What triggered the landslide
26:00 Inspiration: Oreo hair
29:00 When Leadership Means Role Modeling
32:00 Reframing Workplace Urgency
35:00 Identity Shift: Your Job Isn't Your Whole Self
39:30 Transformation of "my work does not define me, it's part of me"
44:00 vulnerable act vs the real act
46:00 Alberta's Role: Cultivating Team Excellence
49:00 Navigating Resistance
52:45 Learning from corporate rebels
53:45 The Power of organizational empathy
55:00 Empathy for the System
59:00 Courage in Future Generations
1:01:00 Struggle of helping our kids shaping the world
1:02:30 Question to ponder
1:05:00 Resources
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As a service design professional, what is your primary role...!?
Are you the host who sets the table for collaboration and creates a safe space for everyone?
Or are you maybe a trusted advisor, working quietly behind the scenes to help stakeholders make better decisions?
Well, what if the answer is... both?
This tension between hosting and advising is at the heart of the latest Inside Service Design episode, in which we explore the real, unpolished practice of driving change from within organizations.
In this episode, we have a great conversation with two seasoned professionals, Seth Campbell and Phil LaDeur, who bring some honest perspectives to the table.
Phil shares how we can create the perfect conditions for collaboration and influence by drawing inspiration from the concept of "Unreasonable Hospitality".
And Seth talks about the importance of patience, humility, and the art of giving away choices to empower your team and build long-term trust.
This is one of those episodes where you get a true peek behind the curtains and hear how other service design professionals are approaching their work.
So, if you're ready to discover new ways that will help you move the needle inside your organization, this one is for you!
I'm curious, in your current role, do you feel more like a "host" or an "advisor"? Leave a comment on the episode and let me know. I'd love to hear which role resonates more with you.
Enjoy the conversation!
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to the June Round Up
04:30 Phil's Journey to Service Design
06:45 How Seth started his role
11:00 The Challenges and what Seth actually does
13:00 Service Design in a Faith-Based Organization
17:00 Defining success in service design
20:30 Seth's Personal Success Metric
24:45 Phil: Small Wins & Feedback"
26:00 The Circle's "Dinner Table" Discussions
28:00 Hospitality as Influence (Phil)
30:00 Theatrics of Design (Seth)
35:00 Overcoming Time Blocks
37:30 Phil's "Restaurant" Framework
41:30 Seth: Hard-Earned Lessons
45:45 The Caboose of a project
46:00 Phil: Learning Organization Horizon
49:30 Investing in Relationships
51:30 Seth: Essential Service Design Skills
53:30 Secret Weapon: Snacks!
54:45 Phil: Skills for Impact
57:30 Questions for Service design professionals
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What's the last time you did something you didn't know how to do...
For me, it was last week when I took up the idea of building custom Cornhole boards (fun and addictive sport, look it up) with my kids.
My woodworking skills are limited, at best. And that's one of the reasons I decided to take on this project.
I can tell you, now in the midst of the process, that I've already made a dozen small mistakes.
However, going out of my comfort zone and doing something for the first time is weirdly what gives me a great sense of joy and satisfaction.
Next to having my own custom Cornhole boards at the end of this project I'm sure that the skills, experience and knowledge I'll have gained will be useful somewhere further down the line.
So in my personal life, I try to create a lot of space for these types of projects. (Sometimes a bit too much space if you ask my wife.)
But what if the environment you're in is explicitly designed to stay in its comfort zone... as much as possible?
The reality is that most of the organizations we work with as service design professionals are exactly just that.
They are designed to keep things stable, controllable, and predictable.
The incentives are basically to keep doing what we've been doing, but just do it faster and cheaper.
So for us, who are in the business of experimenting and trying things out in order to drive positive change, that's a serious problem.
It's easy to become frustrated with the organization's lack of risk-taking.
Fortunately, there are more productive things that you can do instead of getting frustrated.
Yes, even in those situations where the appetite for risk-taking feels non-existent.
In this episode, we chat with Jen Briselli, who's an expert at growing a learning, adaptive, and dare I say even a bit more playful mindset within organizations.
As all change starts within ourselves, we explore what you can do to increase your appetite for risk and uncertainty.
We explore ways to be more adaptable, even in systems designed to resist change.
And why breaking through some of the common roadblocks in order to be more playful might not be as hard as you think.
This is a great conversation for anyone who wants to drive change with more impact and ease. Ready to jump in?
One of the insights that stuck with me is that we have more agency than we often think to shake things up a bit inside organizations.
We're active participants in these systems, not passive bystanders, and everything we do has a ripple effect.
Enjoy and keep making a positive impact!
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to episode 231
05:00 Designing Conditions for Emergence
07:00 A Shift in Receptivity
09:00 Jen's Professional Journey & Inspirations
11:00 Jen's Unique Path
18:00 Why Systems Resist Change
24:00 Creating Space and Slack
26:00 The Nature of Adaptive Capacity
29:00 "Wedge in the Door" & "Doorknob Moments"
36:00 Observing Adaptive Behaviors
40:00 Embracing the Disorienting Dilemma
45:30 Confidence in Navigation
52:45 Play, Risk, and Surviving Existential Threats
56:30 Small Actions, Big Impact
58:30 Key Takeaway: "But Did You Die?"
1:00:00 Creative destruction
1:01:45 Reflection Question
1:02:00 Connect with Jen Briselli
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What does it take to spend more of your time creating real impact...
That's the central question we're exploring in our Journey Management Playbook series.
In the last episode, we did something pretty amazing: we took a pile of raw data and, with a click of a button, watched AI generate a structured journey map in a matter of minutes.
I'll admit even though I was a bit skeptical to start with, this felt pretty magical.
But the truth is that this first draft is just the beginning.
As you have hopefully seen, an AI-generated journey gives you an incredible head start, but it's not yet something you should bet your business on.
So, how do you move from this first draft to a decision-making tool you can truly trust? How do you make it yours?
That’s exactly where we're going in Episode 4. This is the essential next step.
Once again, Tingting and I roll up our sleeves and show you the practical, step-by-step process of:
Prioritizing what to tackle first, so you don't get overwhelmed.
Verifying AI-generated insights to build confidence.
Enriching the journey using properties to add depth.
Using filters to focus on what matters most.
As you'll see, we're now entering the areas where the power of modern AI-driven journey management truly comes alive.
There's still a lot of work for us to do, but AI allows us to focus our time on the areas where we can add the most value.
Just like in the previous episodes, we're diving deep inside TheyDo with a lot of screen sharing.
If you're listening to the podcast version, I highly recommend having the accompanying slides handy to follow along visually. You can find them in the show notes.
Take care,
~ Marc
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--- [ 2. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 4
01:30 What to expect in the episode
04:00 Service Design Pitfall: Over-Perfection
05:00 TheyDo & Tingting's Introduction
09:00 Previous Episodes Recap
11:00 Diving into AI Journey Scenarios
13:00 Scenario 1: AI Journey Verification
15:00 Prioritizing Insights: Where to Start
24:00 How to verify individual AI insight
25:45 Marc's verification approach
28:00 Managing Supporting Quotes & Splits
33:00 Iterative AI Workflow & Refinement
35:30 Clarifying AI-Generated Details & Sentiment
38:00 Verifying Insight Types
40:45 Adjusting Experience Impact Score
42:30 Understanding Insight Ownership
46:00 Summary of Verification Process
47:00 Batch Editing Insights for Efficiency
49:30 The Power of Tagging & Taxonomy
51:00 Statuses: Tracking Workflow Progress
59:00 Personas: Differentiating User Experiences
1:02:30 AI & Human Collaboration: Not Obsolete
1:03:00 Groups: Engaging Different Teams
1:05:00 Tags: Global Dimensions for Insights
1:07:45 Filtering & Prioritization with Tags
1:10:45 Journey Health Score (Upcoming Feature)
1:11:32 What Makes a Healthy Journey?
1:12:00 What's Next on Episode 5
1:13:00 Audience Q&A
1:15:00 Conclusion & Looking Ahead
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Let's be honest, unfortunately not many business truly cares about sustainable services...
The energy debate around AI is finally highlighting digital services' environmental impact. But every service, digital or physical, consumes resources: energy, materials, and even our time. As service designers, we have a moral obligation to design with sustainability at the core.
This episode tackles the real challenges: clients not asking, defining "sustainable," and measuring impact. Our guest, James Chudley, shares key lessons and real-world examples from his journey, showing how he integrates sustainability into daily design.
Discover what it really takes to design services that are better for customers, better for business, and better for our planet. Plus, uncover a deceptively simple design principle that guarantees more sustainable services.
Can you guess what it is? The clue is in this episode.
Keep making a positive impact on customers, business, and our planet!
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 230
05:00 How to define sustainable service
07:30 Are services sustainable?
12:00 James' unique journey
16:00 The Pivotal Decision
22:00 Integrating Sustainability
27:00 The power of minimizing
30:30 Navigating Stakeholder Talks
33:00 can we justify unsustainable services?
34:40 From Sustainable to Regenerative
35:30 Case Study: Circle Community
38:15 Non-Digital Touchpoints
39:57 Avoiding Measurement Paralysis
43:30 Adding a "Sustainability Lane" to Journey Maps
48:30 Principles
42:00 Mental energy
47:30 Community Design Principle Example
54:30 Accessibility in Sustainable Design
55:30 Sustainability as Personal Practice
57:30 the trojan horse
58:30 First Steps for Inspired Designers
1:00:90 Resources
1:02:00 Question to ponder
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
Connect with James Chudley:
Books:
Other Helpful Online Resources:
Website Carbon Calculator
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Have you ever thought about...
What a therapist, a grandma, and an organ donor teach you about service design?
I know, this might sound like the start of a strange joke, but it gets to the heart of a big truth about our work.
We invest a lot of time perfecting our journey maps, blueprints, and personas.
But as we know, the challenges we work on won't be solved by a deliverable.
They're solved through invisible "tools" like subtle influence, creating space for others, and building strategic relationships.
So, where do you find these tools? Well, this episode is a great start.
This episode is part of our "Inside Service Design" series, where we explore the real, unpolished practice of driving change from within organizations.
And just like in the previous episodes you get to hear two brilliant in-house professionals, share some of their most powerful, non-traditional strategies. This time we're joined by Irina Damascan and Gina Mendolia.
Gina walks us through her concept of "Setting the Trap" for engagement, and how she draws inspiration from the roles of therapists, coaches, and even grandmas to master the art of creating space and enabling teams to connect the dots themselves.
Irina introduces a powerful model for influence she calls the "Organ Donor Chain," a strategic way to build networks of reciprocity by doing "favors" that enable change across the organization, often in unexpected ways.
I have to say, it was refreshing to hear about effective mental models that go beyond design-as-usual, which aren't just theories but truly help to design better services.
Want to add some (unconventional) tools that help you drive change to your toolkit? Grab your notebook and join us for this conversation.
What's the most unconventional place you've found inspiration for your work? Maybe a different profession, a hobby, a movie? Share your inspiration in the comments on YouTube and let's continue the conversation there.
Keep making a positive impact!
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to the May Round Up!
05:00 Irina's path to service design
07:45 Gina's service design journey
09:00 Gina defines success
11:00 Irina defines success
17:00 Challenges Gina tackles
19:00 Irina's service design role
24:45 Gina's dinner table session
29:30 Adding inspiration
30:30 Irina's session insights
40:30 Gina's life-simplifying tactics
45:45 In-house misconceptions
51:00 How Gina measures success
56:00 Advice for younger Irina
58:30 Irina shares an example
1:03:00 Gina's motivation
1:04:30 Questions to ponder
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Ever feel like your most crucial work goes unnoticed? Just like the essential "cooling fluid" of a car, much of service design's impact—making teams efficient and processes smooth—operates in the background. But when it's missing, chaos erupts.
In this episode, our guest Kat Thackray dive into the invisible, yet vital, work that drives true change in service design. We'll explore why this intangible effort is often overlooked, what it actually looks like in practice, and actionable ways to gain the recognition and resources you deserve.
If you're tired of your crucial contributions being taken for granted, this episode is your roadmap to getting that unseen work finally recognized.
Enjoy the conversation, and keep making that positive, even if sometimes invisible, impact!
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 229
04:15 Who is Kat Thackray
05:00 The Consultant's Dilemma
07:45 Kat's "Aha!" Moment: Prioritizing People
10:30 Painful Status Quo of Teamwork
15:00 Why Organizations Overlook "Soft Skills"
19:00 How COVID-19 Shifted Design Focus
21:00 Bridging Strategy & Delivery
26:30 The Need for Team Coaches
29:00 The "Ted Lasso" Effect
32:00 Expanding the Designer's Toolkit
34:45 Jack of All Trades vs Specialized Expert
35:45 Unpacking the "Golden Thread" of Collaboration
40:45 Practical Steps for Healthier Team Dynamics
43:45 Navigating Tricky Power Dynamics
47:45 Recognizing Team Vulnerabilities
51:15 The New Skills Emerging in Design
51:45 Empowering Your Team Members
53:45 Connect & Learn More: Resources
55:15 Kat's Final Advice for Designers
57:15 A Question to Ponder
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It's time to continue our journey...
In episode 1 of the Journey Management Playbook we pinpointed a key business challenge that we want to tackle.
The focus of episode 2 was all about gathering qualitative and quantitative data to understand the 'what' and the 'why'.
But now comes the big question: How do you transform all that valuable material into clear insights and identify the opportunities that will actually make a tangible impact, fast?
Where should you even start to make sense of it all and prioritize your efforts?
This is where the rubber meets the road, and it's exactly what we address in episode 3. We're diving into the crucial first steps of structuring and scoping.
Just like in the past episodes, we're joined again by Tingting Lin from TheyDo, who shows us how to take our raw data and, with AI as our powerful co-pilot, quickly generate an initial, structured journey map.
This episode helps you understand how to:
Take your raw qualitative data (like survey responses or interview notes) and use AI to generate an initial, structured customer journey map
Begin making sense of AI-generated insights by understanding different insight types and how to initially prioritize them.
Enrich an existing journey structure with new data using AI, effectively showing how to augment prior work with fresh insights.
Our goal with this whole series is to help you use journey management to make tangible impact faster, and as you'll see AI is a great tool to accelerate this process.
Important Note: This episode features a lot of screen sharing as we build a journey live inside TheyDo. So to get the most out of it, I highly recommend watching the video version on YouTube or having the accompanying slides (link in the show notes) handy if you're listening to the podcast edition.
Enjoy and keep driving that positive change.
~ Marc
[ RESOURCES ]
[ GUIDE ]
00:00 Episode 3: What to Expect
02:30 Introducing Theydo & Tingting's
06:00 The Big Picture
07:30 Episode 2 Recap
08:30 Offboarding Sources
09:30 The Goodbye Email Data
12:00 Working with Unstructured Data
13:30 Miro Board: Structuring Insights
14:30 First Step in Journey Management
15:00 Generating a Journey with AI
18:00 Starting a New Journey in Theydo
20:00 AI-Generated Journey from Scratch
23:00 Enriching an Existing Journey
31:00 Blank Slate
36:00 Collaborating with AI: Verifying Insights
42:00 Check Mapped Insights
46:00 Workspace Insights Overview
49:00 3 Ways Prioritizing Verification
50:00 Prioritizing with Pain, Gain & Observations
51:30 Starting with Pain Points
1:04:00 Bonus Questions from Previous Episode
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