Service Design Show

Want to secure executive buy-in? Stop waiting for a strategic brief from leadership, learn how to pitch solutions that solve your VP's biggest headache.Tired of doing incredible journey mapping work only to realize you still aren't invited to the room where important business decisions are made? In this episode of the Journey Management Playbook, Martin and I break down a highly specific, 5-slide pitch designed to get you a seat at the executive table. Learn how to stop being viewed as just the "journey maps person" and start navigating boardroom politics like a pro.in this episode Why asking your VP what could get them fired is the ultimate shortcut to tapping into executive urgency. A tactical, step-by-step breakdown of how to write your own strategic brief and present a high-value proposition.How to handle heavy pushback from stakeholders and turn a painful "no" into meaningful progress.How to reposition customer experience (CX) from a minor workshop activity into a core business solution.We’ve put together an Objection Response Cheat Sheet with the most common pushbacks and ways you can navigate them. You can download it for free using the link in the show notes.Enjoy and keep making a positive impact.~ Marc[1. LINKS 🔗 ]👉 Playbook Slides - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/-0sy8👉 Objection Response Cheat Sheet - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-11-objection-response-cheat-sheet-podcastThe Journey Management Playbook - https://www.theydo.com/resources/journey-management-playbook?utm_source=article&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=202605-Global-Marc[ 2. GUIDE 📺 ]00:00 Season 2 Recap02:00 Shifting Focus to Business Impact04:45 The CX Trust Gap Explained06:30 Breaking Out of the Workshop Box11:15 Creating a High-Value Proposition29:45 Repackaging for Time Constraints35:30 Surface vs. Root Cause Problems40:15 Aligning Strategy with Backlogs51:00 Re-evaluating Urgency55:30 Handling Objections & Silence57:00 Setting 90-Day Timelines1:00:00 Turbocharging Your Preparation1:02:45 Overcoming Presentation Rejection1:04:15 Wrap-Up--- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-11-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-11-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-11-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-11-snipd

If building digital products becomes instant and free, what happens to the value of a service designer? Discover why traditional discovery is under attack and how to survive the impending "Design Winter." The rapid trajectory of AI development has completely shifted the rules of corporate problem-solving. In this episode, host Marc van Tijn sits down with academic coordinator Pablo Fernández Vallejo to unpack the deep structural changes hitting the design industry. They move past basic chatbot hype to look at the realities of autonomous AI agents, shifting organizational power dynamics, and why designers must quickly transition from "authors" to "editors" to stay relevant. Here is what we cover:Why corporate obsession with cheap, instant builds risks turning upfront design discovery into an operational roadblock. Why automating the messy, time-consuming parts of qualitative work might actually cause our core design muscles to atrophy. How autonomous AI agents are forcing us to redesign websites and platforms for machine consumption instead of human eyes. How to harden your service ecosystems before competitors or angry clients launch automated, voice-cloned agent swarms to overwhelm support desks. Why the future belongs to designers who can let go of the static deliverable and focus on continuous, systemic agility. On a scale of 1-10, how fluent do you feel with AI as a design material right now? Let me know, I really do read and reply to all responses.Enjoy and keep making a positive impact!~ Marc--- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 25503:45 AI Velocity08:45 Future Job Market13:30 Productive Friction19:15 Impact on Designers23:15 What happens to our value 28:30 How we combat corporate Proto Bros34:00 Where we anchor the "real" domain of design36:45 Impact on Services37:30 Autonomous Agents 42:15 Designing AX 47:45 Ecosystem Defense 50:15 Broken Journey Maps52:00 Impact on Organizations56:30 Authors vs Editors --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablofernandezvallejoWebsite - https://www.fernandezvallejo.com/Watch Part 1 of Pablo's Previous Interview on AI on Service Design - https://youtu.be/B142M6lhac8?si=uUKREkC1wztjUSYj --- [ 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/255-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/255-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/255-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/255-snipd

What do you do when you want to drive human-centered change inside your organization, but you don't have the formal authority, you don't hold the budget, and you don't even have the official job title?To dive deeper into this strategy, I sat down with Max Seabrooke and Jennifer Kitchen.According to them, you stop asking for corporate permission and start getting a little bit sneaky. We step away from perfectly polished frameworks to look at the raw, political reality of practicing "undercover influence" from the inside out.In this episode, you will learn:How to quietly embed user-centric design into your organization without triggering corporate resistance or using confusing industry jargon.Why slowly building a toolkit of data on top of your company's existing expertise wins over skeptical executives.How to figure out exactly how other siloed teams measure their own success so you can align your project to their metrics.Why avoiding friction inside your team can quietly destroy project alignment and sabotage quality.So, if you want to hear raw, practical insights from professionals who are in the trenches every single day, you'll really like enjoy this one!I’m curious, if you don't have the official "Service Designer" title, what does your email signature currently say? Let me know.Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact.Be well, ~ Marc--- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to the April Round Up 202603:45 Career Paths to Service Design 05:30 Titles vs Doing the Role 06:15 Modern Human-Centered Design 07:15 UX Design for Kids 09:15 Supply Chain Overhauls 12:15 The Human Side of Blueprints 13:15 Product Repair Operations 15:30 Strategic Sneakiness 18:15 Fixing Complex Mergers 21:00 Politics as Design Material 21:45 Corporate Political Survival 24:15 Active Listening & Handoffs 28:30 Eliminating Corporate Jargon 33:45 Operational Alignment 39:15 Dangers of Toxic Politeness 44:15 Confronting Hard Truths 50:00 Customer Belief Toolkit 54:15 Leadership Evidence Layers --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxseabrookehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-kitchen-studio --- [ 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-13-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-13-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-13-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-13-snipd

We are moving way past the point of just typing prompts into chat interfaces. We are entering the "agentic era," where a single person can deploy high-level AI agents who manage their own teams of digital workers underneath them.This shift is triggering a massive compression of skills, collapsing separate specialized roles into a single generalist function. If most service interactions shift to agent-to-agent communication, the human experience risks disappearing completely.In this episode, John Ayers joins Marc to explore how to help the "80% in the middle". The people who are curious but completely exhausted by the daily AI hype cycle. You'll learn how to take your existing mapping toolkit and adapt it to build "AI service blueprints," translating human personas directly into digital agents so we don't lose empathy.As you listen, think about John’s closing challenge: When the dust settles two years from now, what do you actually want your career to look like?Be well,~ Marc--- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Welcome to Episode 25401:00 Introducing John Ayers02:15 Reality vs AI Hype03:45 Lessons From Past Shifts07:15 Why AI is Different09:00 The Rapid Pace of AI11:30 The Shift to AI Agents13:15 Agent-to-Agent Decisions15:00 Building a Digital Workforce16:15 Domain Knowledge vs General AI18:00 Helping the Overwhelmed Majority26:00 Avoiding Fake AI29:15 The Governance Gap31:00 The New AI Giants34:00 Service Blueprinting for AI35:00 Anatomy of an AI Agent39:30 The Democratization Trap41:30 Human Skills vs Job Losses45:00 Stop Chasing Tech Tools46:30 Focus on Humans, Not Jargon51:45 Human Purpose in the AI Era54:30 Avoiding AI Burnout54:45 John’s Disruptor Confessions56:15 Asking the Hard Questions58:30 Wrap-Up and Community Call --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnlayers/ --- [ 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/254-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/254-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/254-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/254-snipd

Does your "Master Journey Map" just sit in a digital drawer? You aren’t alone. In this episode, we dive into "Journey Theater"— the trap of performing progress without moving the needle on business outcomes.We’re moving beyond "mapping for mapping’s sake." Learn how to shift from being a service provider to a strategic partner by building a living system that survives the next re-org.Watch this episode to learn:Why your budget holder is your real customerThe warning signs of Journey TheaterHow to shift from project cycles to an operational modelUsing the Journey Maturity Scorecard to track growthJust like the rest of the Playbook, this episode is best consumed as a video because we walk through specific examples, like the Journey Maturity Scorecard, on screen. If you’re listening on the go, you can always grab the slide deck from the show notes to follow along.Enjoy and keep making a positive impact!~ Marc--- [1. LINKS 🔗 ] --- Playbook Slides - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/xo964Sign up for TheyDo - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/scjwb Journey Health Scorecard - https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-10-journey-health-scorecard-podcastThe Journey Management Playbook - https://www.theydo.com/resources/journey-management-playbook?utm_source=article&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=202605-Global-Marc--- [ 2. GUIDE 📺 ] ---00:00 Welcome to Journey Management Playbook S2E203:45 Internal Customer 05:30 Decision Maker Needs 07:15 Budget Agenda 10:30 Impact Over Selling 13:15 Organizational Friction 16:15 The Journey Scope 19:15 Journey Theater 21:00 Reporting Progress Live 26:45 Breaking Project Cycles 30:45 Quantifying Wins 40:15 Decision Context 41:30 Continuous Insights 42:45 Common Language 44:00 Cross Vertical Impact 45:30 Eight Success Steps 46:45 AI Data Leverage 48:00 Delivery Authority 49:15 Proactive Influence 50:30 Impact Focus 51:45 Six Month Strategy 53:00 Revenue vs Cost 54:15 Agenda Alignment 56:45 Management Maturity 58:00 Scaling Momentum 1:00:45 Journey Health Score 1:04:30 Summary and Next Steps --- [ 3. FIND THE SHOW ON ] --- Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-10-youtubeSpotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-10-spotifyApple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-10-appleSnipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/journey-management-playbook-10-snipd