Service Design Show

Tired of polished case studies that ignore the messy reality of driving organizational change? In this episode, Cecilie Kobbelgaard shares the unfiltered truth about embedding journey management inside Grundfos over the last four years. 🎧 In This Episode: The reality behind "it sold itself" success stories. Why journey management is actually everything except journey mapping. How a simple cup of tea became the ultimate adoption tool. Real lessons from four years of trial and error at a 20,000 employee supertanker. Ready for more honest stories? Catch Cecilie's full talk at the upcoming Beyond the Map conference in London from November 9 to 11. Secure your spot today and come say hi to Marc in person! Enjoy the conversation and keep making wiser decisions! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Introduction 02:15 Meet Cecilie 05:00 Honest Truth 07:15 Hitting Reality 09:45 Grundfosifying 13:00 Stop Pretending 15:45 Key Takeaways 19:15 Driving Excellence 22:00 Outro --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceciliekobbelgaard/ Beyond the Map Conference: beyondthemap.com Get 25% off your ticket with code: SDS26 --- [ 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/btm26-cecilie-youtube Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-cecilie-spotify Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-cecilie-apple Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-cecilie-snipd

Empathy is treated like the ultimate superpower in service design, yet well-meaning teams still build services that fail people in the real world. In this episode, service design researcher and educator Lara Salinas reveals what actually comes after empathy and how to get meaningful work done inside slow-moving organizations. Every job post, design brief, and conference talk puts empathy on a pedestal. We imagine a user's life for a brief moment, check the box, and go right back to our project timelines. As Lara shares from her own lived experience with type 1 diabetes, understanding someone's struggle means very little if the system you design still gives them a 15-minute lunch break when taking insulin takes 10. Currently working with Camden Council in London to make good design practice visible across UK local government, Lara knows firsthand how public and private systems get stuck. Together, we unpack why the obsession with efficiency only makes services cheaper instead of better. Instead of another flashy framework, Lara introduces a concept almost nobody has the courage to say out loud in a stakeholder meeting. If you want to bring your whole self to work, create genuine impact, and still hit your deadlines, this conversation is for you. 🎧 In This Episode The Empathy Trap: Why imagining a user's experience is no substitute for changing the rules and structures around them. What Comes After Empathy: The unexpected principle that turns good intentions into real-world action, even in rigid stakeholder meetings. The Efficiency Illusion: Why optimizing for speed and lower costs keeps making modern services worse for the people who rely on them. Navigating Slow Organizations: How Lara champions good service design practice inside UK local government without burning out. Picking Your Battles: How to recognize when to stop pushing against organizational walls and simply go around them. When was the last time a service went the extra mile for you? Not just someone saying "we understand," but actually doing the small, practical thing that made your day. Drop your story in the comments below! Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Intro 03:30 Welcome 04:00 Efficiency 05:45 Fine Arts 07:45 Community Garden 09:15 Gardening Mindset 10:45 Rules 12:15 Forgiveness 14:30 Co-Design Leadership 18:15 Coffee Analogy 21:00 Social Prescribing 22:45 Designer Burnout 24:15 Compromises 26:15 Optimism 31:45 Beyond Empathy 37:15 Impact Stories 41:45 Scaling Out 47:15 Reflection 51:30 Happiness 55:15 Final Question 57:00 Closing Reflections --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- * LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-lara-salinas-frsa-0973a82a --- [ 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/264-youtube Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/264-spotify Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/264-apple Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/264-snipd

Great service design ideas do not sell themselves. In this episode, Stefan Wörnle (Senior Manager Global Customer Experience at MediaMarktSaturn) reveals how to stop your best work from dying in a slide deck and actually get your ideas implemented. We have all been there. A workshop wraps up with amazing energy, someone types up a tidy list of actions, and then nothing happens. Your hard work gets stuck between sticky notes and the next agenda item. When one repair experience fix at MediaMarktSaturn shipped almost instantly, Stefan got curious and reverse-engineered why it succeeded. Out of that investigation, he discovered 5 practical levers that move customer experience and service design projects from concept to reality. 🎯 In This Episode The Quality Myth: Why doing great service design work is never enough on its own to win organizational buy-in. The Workshop Trap: Why tidy action lists die right after high-energy mapping sessions and how to break the cycle. Reverse-Engineering Success: How analyzing one fast-shipping repair fix revealed 5 levers for getting ideas built. The Capital Market Shift: Why reporting Net Promoter Score (NPS) to the capital market for the first time changed everything for customer experience. Outcomes Over Workshops: How delivering one tangible business result builds more stakeholder trust than another mapping session ever will. This conversation is part of a special series leading up to Beyond The Map, the journey management conference happening in London from November 9 to 11. Stefan will be on stage sharing all 5 implementation levers in full detail. Grab your ticket at the link below and use code SDS26 at checkout for 25% off. Marc will be there too, so come say hi! 👋 Enjoy and keep getting things done! Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Intro 02:00 Stefan Wörnle 03:15 MediaMarktSaturn 04:00 Talk Theme 05:15 Implementation Gap 07:00 Five Levers 08:15 Management Attention 09:45 Operative KPIs 13:15 Mystery Shopping 14:15 Program Management 16:00 High Sponsorship 17:30 Board Role 19:00 Key Takeaway 20:00 Conference Goals 22:45 Outro --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanwoernle/ Beyond The Map - https://www.beyondthemap.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/btm26-stefan-youtube Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-stefan-spotify Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-stefan-apple Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/btm26-stefan-snipd

What if the ultimate cheat code for service design is not a new framework, but learning how to deeply listen? Discover how to sharpen your most vital skill and apply everyday activism to your design practice with our guest, Mariana Salgado. In This Episode: The Ultimate Design Skill: Why deep listening is crucial and how to intentionally train your ears for better stakeholder interviews. Everyday Activism: How to shift your perspective by starting every project with one question: "who are we leaving aside?" Public Sector Design: The unique challenges of designing services when the law mandates that you serve absolutely everyone. Global Design Perspectives: Fresh insights from the Spanish-speaking design community that rarely reach English feeds. Sustainability & Infrastructure: A look into Mariana's work designing services for ICOS to measure greenhouse gases. Mariana ended our chat with a powerful question: How has listening improved your design practice? Drop a comment below to share your answer. If you enjoyed this conversation, please hit subscribe so you never miss an episode! Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact. Be well, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Introduction 04:45 Activism 10:15 Public Sector 14:45 Global South 29:30 Design Research 39:45 Peer Communities 49:45 Deep Listening 01:00:00 Final Question --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisalgado/ Mariana's Podcast: Diseño y Diáspora - https://disenoydiaspora.org --- [ 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/263-youtube Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/263-spotify Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/263-apple Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/263-snipd

Stop doing the job they posted and start navigating the workplace that actually exists. In this episode, we reveal the hidden political maps that dictate how decisions are really made inside your organization. Service design professionals love to believe good work speaks for itself. The reality is much more complicated. The official org chart is usually pure fiction, and the real choices happen in rooms you are not in. Marc sits down with Zac Heisey and Jeff Hoekwater to unpack the realities of the political organization. They explain how to draw a map of reality so you stop wasting months on work that is already dead in the water. 🎧 In This Episode The Danger of the Job Description: Why doing exactly what you were hired to do can actually get you in trouble. The Unofficial Map: How to chart out the real power structures and influence in your company. Behind Closed Doors: Uncovering the truth about how and where decisions actually get made. Picking Your Battles: How to know when a decision is simply above your pay grade and not worth fighting. Job Hunting Masterclass: Practical insights to help you find a team that aligns with the realities of the work. What is one thing about your role that was entirely missing from the job description? Drop your answer in the comments below or reach out to us directly! If you want to spend your energy on work that actually has a chance of seeing the light of day, hit the subscribe button so you never miss a guide to the real service design industry. Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact! Take care, ~ Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] --- 00:00 Intro 05:00 Zac's Journey 11:00 Job Hunt 18:30 Networking 21:45 Unofficial Map 26:00 Delight Politics 31:15 Moving On 45:00 Bloopers 52:00 Success Metrics 56:45 Conclusion --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- Zac’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacheisey Jeff’s LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhoekwater --- [ 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-15-youtube Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-15-spotify Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-15-apple Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-15-snipd