Closing keynote at Web Directions Design 2018 arguing that move-fast, sprint and MVP mantras have come at the cost of long-term thinking. Essential services such as finance, mobility, healthcare and welfare outlast individual careers; designing them requires care and humility. Draws on space exploration, landscape gardening and architecture to make the case for designing service ecosystems for the long term, not only short-cycle digital products.
People
Andy Polaine
Methods
Service DesignService design examines how people, tools and organisational processes work together to deliver an experience. Map the customer-facing steps alongside the staff activities, policies and systems that support them, often using a service blueprint. Bring the relevant teams together to identify broken handoffs, duplicated work and conflicting responsibilities, then coordinate changes across the service. Use it when problems span departments or channels and cannot be resolved through interface changes alone. Include employee experience because internal constraints shape what customers receive.