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Non-linear service design for complex adaptive systems
This video is featured in the Systemic Design playlist.
Summary
What is service design without chronology? And when do our tools force us to misrepresent and misdirect? In this session, Kyle Godbey uses the Cynefin framework to show how the methods we rely on work beautifully for known, constrained, and measurable spaces—like airport security—but can fail us in more fluid, unpredictable, self-organizing spaces—like an airport atrium. If humans are complex, then human-centered design needs to better reflect that complexity. Kyle will share a set of new tools designed to complement traditional service design methods—tools that help teams work in and make sense of complex, ambiguous contexts, and find opportunities for innovation right where uncertainty lives.
Key Insights
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Human systems are inherently complex adaptive systems where messiness and unpredictability are features, not bugs.
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Traditional service design tools that rely on linear, ordered sequences struggle to represent complex, unconstrained human interactions.
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The Cynefin framework helps differentiate domains of order (clear, complicated) from disorder (complex, chaotic), guiding appropriate design methods.
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Emergence means whole-system properties cannot be reduced to the properties of individual parts, making prediction impossible but creativity possible.
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Participatory sense-making involves creating spaces where people collectively discover and reframe their roles and agency, enabling systemic change.
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Service designers are shifting from deliverers of solutions to facilitators, spacemakers, and guides in complexity navigation.
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No single tool or process fits all complexity challenges; success requires mixing, adapting, and iterating tools contextually.
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Storytelling methods like warm data and participatory narrative inquiry reveal multiple perspectives and affordances not captured by traditional metrics.
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Understanding energy and constraints in systems helps identify where to intervene, amplify, or monitor relationships effectively.
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Cultural context matters; complexity approaches are more readily embraced in places like Australia and Europe versus the US, requiring tailored communication.
Notable Quotes
"Complex adaptive system is the domain of humans. Humans are messy and we’re complex."
"When we’re released from constraints and enter into the airport atrium, we become free range humans self-organizing unpredictably."
"The right answer is, it depends. And for the sake of our tools we’re forced to make edits not knowing what nuance we lose."
"Chaos is brief. Humans are bad at existing without constraints. We impose or imagine them because we like constraints like gravity."
"Emergence is properties of a whole system not expressed in properties of parts. Water is liquid but hydrogen and oxygen atoms are not."
"It’s not about solving or fixing complexity. We’re making sense of it so we can operate in it."
"Service design fundamentals carry over nicely: pragmatism, evidence, building assets, and iterative relationships."
"No one size fits all solution in complexity. We have to work in context and be resourceful and repurpose tools."
"The role of the service designer shifts from design savior to facilitator, spacemaker, and guide."
"Navigating complexity is like sailing in open ocean. A GPS won’t help if you don’t know how to read wind and water."
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