Map making
Understanding and using service maps as moments in time. Read more
Service Design
Reflections from Services Week 2020
Some reflections on service design and service patterns after speaking in Newcastle at Services Week 2020 – as part of a Government Digital Service series of events. Read more
How to use service patterns in your organisation
How to work with service patterns to deliver consistency and quality of design at scale. Read more
New models for service ownership and leadership
New questions about how we design, develop, maintain and improve whole services. Read more
Comparing service design and business design
How service design can bring a new set of approaches and focus to organisations. Read more
Simple models
The importance of simplicity and clarity of frameworks that can help us to work with complex subject matters. Read more
The importance of frameworks and first principles in service design
Why the importance of frameworks is that you focus on a smaller set of things, because you can’t focus on everything. Read more
Ambiguity and design
Ambiguity is a key part of design. It points us to the uncomfortable gap between ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’ which is where I believe design adds most value. Read more
Shared working definitions
The purpose of defining something is to create a shared understanding of words, ideas, and processes with a wider group of people. Read more
A service-oriented approach to organisation design
How a service-oriented approach is an effective way of organising change and managing priorities inside organisations. Read more
There is no digital service design
Why service design will never be effective if it’s only seen as digital or given the remit to work as digital. Read more
It’s not a redesign
I don’t like talking about ‘redesign’. The challenge is to design services all the time. Not to redesign them. Read more
Service mapping and different types of maps
Understanding maps, why we’re making them, and how they’re useful to service teams. Read more
Working forwards and working backwards
What we can learn from the military about mapping backwards, and how this applies to service design. Read more
Comparing service design and business analysis
How service design and business analyst roles have similar skill sets, but why they require different types of focus and mindsets. Read more
Working with design detail
Why artefacts are most useful when they become the design, rather than a plan for doing the design or building a product. Read more
Quality conversations over process
Why the quality of your conversations is as important as your process. Read more