Service Design Show

Imagine making the cover of Time magazine...Okay, maybe not. Nobody gets into service design for the fame. Actually, as we’re always saying on the show, our best work is usually the stuff nobody notices.The spotlight stays on the CEOs. You rarely see the people in the trenches, the ones making sure the "faceless" public services we rely on actually work. Think about it for a moment, you can thank a mailman because he’s a human being standing on your porch in the rain. But when water is coming out of your faucet, there’s nobody to thank. It’s just "the system".That invisibility is exactly why people sometimes get hostile toward the government or big institutions. It's always "us versus them" because there’s no "them" to relate to.So our guest for this episode, Brian Whittaker, decided to change by starting a project called Humans of Public Service (HoPS).In this episode, we talk about the early days of the project and the weirdly difficult task of getting modest, quiet service design professionals to actually talk about themselves (on camera). He also shares hard won lessons on how he finally got the project to take off.It’s an inspiring conversation. It shows how much the vibe changes when you put a human face on a anonymous system. So if you’re trying to build empathy inside a big, messy organization, Brian’s blueprint really might just be what you need.While you’re listening, try to think of one "boring" story in your own org that deserves a spotlight. Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!Be well,~ Marc--- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 25203:45 Family Roots in Service05:00 Current US Service Challenges07:30 Private to Public Transition10:00 Modernizing Federal Tech11:00 Passion of Public Servants13:30 The Shift in 202014:15 Humans of Public Service15:45 Growing on LinkedIn17:00 Amplifying Unheard Voices18:15 Shifting the Narrative21:30 Bridging the Empathy Gap25:45 The Power of Recognition32:45 Institutional Design38:30- Scaling Human Connection44:55 The Future of Service51:15 Advice for Change-Makers53:30 Final Reflections --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/bwhtt/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/252-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/252-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/252-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/252-snipd

How do you get your boss to actually fund journey management? 💰We’ve all felt the frustration of making an impressive map that everyone "likes" but nobody actually uses. when that happens, our practice loses credibility. Season 2 of the Journey Management Playbook is here to fix that by focusing on the BUSINESS CASE.What we cover in this episodeWhy journey management is a strategic asset, not a "nice-to-have."how to calculate the actual cost of bad customer experience.shifting the conversation from "fluffy" CX metrics to boardroom metrics.getting stakeholders to embrace a journey-led way of working.Martin Palamarz is the chief customer officer at TheyDo. he spends his time helping global organizations scale their CX efforts and understands the language of executive decision-making.It’s best to watch the video version on Youtube to see the examples on screen, but you can also find the slide deck in the show notes below.--- [ 1. LINKS ] ---Playbook SlidesCX Cost CalculatorThe Journey Management Playbook--- [ 2. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Journey Management Playbook S2E0102:00 Martin's background04:30 Origin story of TheyDo06:45 Series overview: CX costs08:45 The CX Toolkit10:00 Bridging the gap13:45 Forrester research findings16:30 CX & business performance19:30 The Norway story23:00 Boardroom metrics30:45 The Cost of Bad CX38:30 High-value journey steps40:30 Drop Off Rate Explained42:30 "Nice-to-have" trap48:15 Service design & revenue50:00 Starting small52:15 Mckinsey research57:30 AI for customer data1:00:00 3-minute executive reports1:01:30 Ticket value & variables1:08:30 Bad CX VS. CX Investment1:12:00 Building momentum1:14:00 the final challenge--- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] --- Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-09-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-09-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-09-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-09-snipd

Our brains were not designed for this pace... Just think about it. For thousands of years, humans had ages to adapt to new technology. When we discovered fire or the steam engine, we had generations to figure out the implications.Today, things are shifting so fast that trying to keep up by just "learning more stuff" feels biologically impossible. At least to me 🤣It’s like you’re trying to run 2026 apps on the operating system of a legendary—but limited—Nokia 3310 phone.So, for this episode, I sat down with Nav Qirti from the School of Metaskills to talk about why we’re looking at the "skills gap" all wrong.Nav argues that we should stop chasing "functional skills" (which have a very short shelf life anyway) and focus on the things technology can't touch: judgment, curiosity, and reasoning.We also dive into why you can’t just read a book to get better at empathy or judgment. Nav explains that you need a "proxy environment" to train those muscles. Most professionals I know practice by just following a script, but Nav shows us how to build the mental strength behind the craft.This conversation offers an optimistic path forward by focusing on the core human abilities that technology simply cannot replace.Which of your "mental muscles" feels a bit weak lately? If you’ve got a moment, leave a comment below and let me know. I’d love to hear what a "workout" would actually look like for you 🙂Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact.Be well, ~ Marc--- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 25104:00 The Falling Behind Puzzle05:30 6Adapting to AI08:15 Seeing what matters10:15 Obsolete hard skills12:30 Outdated learning models15:00 The 90/10 Imbalance16:45 Bucketing Skills17:15 Communication as a base19:00 Human survival traits21:15 Building capacity25:45 Expertise vs. scripts29:15 Measuring the wrong things37:30 Leadership and meta-skills39:45 The shift from "doing" to "leading"42:15 Why technical expertise has a ceiling45:00 Identifying your personal meta-skill gaps48:15 Low-stakes practice50:00 Defining Proxy Environments51:30 How to practice judgment daily55:15 Building empathy without the pressure58:15 Anxiety to Control59:00 Reframing the AI threat1:01:00 Focusing on the human operating system1:02:15 Regaining professional confidence1:02:30 Closing thoughts --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/navqirti/www.navqirti.comwww.metaskills.globalSkills to make us future ready & future relevant --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/251-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/251-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/251-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/251-snipd

What happens when a service design professional does their job well...Usually? Absolutely nothing.No organizational gears grind. No customers complain. No one panics.You did your job, so the disaster simply stayed in your head instead of becoming a reality.That’s the curse, though. No one's going to congratulate you for a crisis they didn't have to experience.I sat down with Jin Wan and Chad Cheverier for the this episode of Inside Service Design to talk about this "great enabler" trap.To make things practical, Jin had a great example about redesigning an onboarding journey. His biggest win wasn't a shiny new interface. It was moving a step in the verification process to the backend so nobody had to intervene manually. It saved the company (and customers) countless hours, but the solution itself is completely unseen.Chad mentioned a similar struggle. Looking at his quarterly review and realizing he doesn't have many "shiny" deliverables to show. His best work was aligning teams and coaching PMs to do their jobs better, which doesn't look like a "deliverable".So, how do you stay motivated when your best work is invisible and goes unnoticed? And more importantly, how do you sell the value of that work to the people holding the budget? We unpack all of that in this episode.If you had to make an estimate, how much of the work you do is "invisible"? Send me a quick reply and let me know.Be well,~ Marc--- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to February Round Up05:00 Jin's path: From IT and HR to Marketing and CX 07:30 Chad's path: From photography to in-house design 10:45 What a CX professional does at a startup 11:45 Why you should ignore job titles 14:30 Jin’s digital onboarding in financial services 18:00 Why service design feels like internal consulting 24:35 Core competencies missing from design education 31:15 Navigating the "messy middle" of organizational change 39:00 Dealing with stakeholders who bake in solutions 45:30 The power of simplifying complex journey maps 52:00 Strategies for building internal resilience 58:45 Advice for aspiring in-house service designers --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadcheverier/https://www.linkedin.com/in/wanjin/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle--- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-11-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-11-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-11-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-11-snipd

I'll let you in on a small secret...Ten years ago, the Service Design Show was never even supposed to be a podcast. And somehow here we are. We've officially hit episode 250. Its been a decade since I published that very first interview. Somewhat of a cliche but, I never expected to reach this milestone. I still remember the early days very well when I was struggling with a "split identity". Torn between running a service design agency and following this pull toward content creation. It took me a good three years to finally take the leap, but looking back, it was the best decision I ever made. As you'll notice, this episode is quite different. Usually, it’s my job to ask the questions, but in this one, I’m the one answering them.I wanted to share some of the messy, behind-the-scenes lessons from the last decade. They are quite personal but who knows maybe you can use them as tools in your own practice. We’re diving into things like my cheat code to gain clarity, the power of friction, what I’ve learned about building real connections and how "remarkable" things are often built through consistent, often unglamorous work. And yes, I even answer some hot questions from the community.I have to say that recording this episode was both difficult and incredibly rewarding.So, if you’ve been on this journey with me, I’d love for you to join me for this reflection. This milestone isn't just mine, it’s ours. By the way, if you prefer our regular interview format, feel free to skip this one. I won't judge! We’ll be back to our normal schedule next week.Thank you again for your attention, your trust, and for being part of this movement.Be well,~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to EP 25003:30 Friction of a "split identity"05:00 How did I get into service design06:30 Overlap between engineering and design skills07:00 Letting go of code08:15 Biggest lessons I learned in the last decade08:45 Don’t wait for permission to start your project10:15 The power of consistency over perfection12:30 Choosing guests for the podcast13:00 The "Curiosity Filter"15:45 The shift from generalist to specialist topics in service design18:30 One of the most challenging episodes19:15 Dealing with technical failures and "lost" interviews22:00 The future of the Service Design Show22:45 Moving towards more community-driven content25:15 Some Advice for someone starting their own podcast26:00 Focusing on the "Why" before the "How"28:30 Importance of building a platform you own31:45 The ripple effect of 250 conversations34:30 Thank you for being part of the journey --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcfonteijnhttps://www.servicedesignshow.com/ --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] --- Join our private community for in-house service design professionals. ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/250-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/250-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/250-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/250-snipd