This video is featured in the Testing playlist.
Summary
For those of us in roles that aim to link experiences, see things end-to-end, or understand systems as ecosystems, the constant currents of change can make it feel like we’re endlessly adapting just to keep up. We long for a stable point of definition and clarity amid all this motion. In this talk, I’ll draw from my experience across various roles and companies to help you recognize and navigate the broader forces shaping our related fields. Using metaphors like oxbows, rivers, and estuaries, and with practical examples, I’ll share tactics for navigating change with intention, helping you stay grounded in the long game while seizing “act now” opportunities.
Key Insights
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Integrative roles like service design and product management face unique cognitive, emotional, and boundary-spanning challenges.
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Organizational maturity is not linear; fast, product-led companies can learn from slower, service-design mature companies and vice versa.
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Current organizational pressures emphasize efficiency and simplification, often risking oversimplification harmful to integrative roles.
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Using metaphors like rivers helps integrators understand flows of power, obstacles, and safety in navigating organizational change.
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Oxbow lakes metaphor warns integrators against becoming isolated units during disruptive external 'floods' or organizational shifts.
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Estuaries symbolize the dynamic, boundary-crossing collaborations that foster creativity but require protection due to sensitivity.
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There is a prevalent 'battle of the models' across disciplines; embracing diverse models and finding commonalities is more productive than forcing consensus.
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Reading wider organizational and external 'currents' reduces myopia and helps integrative roles avoid burnout or isolation.
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Patient opportunism—leveraging existing currents and opportunities—is a sustainable strategy for integrators over constant resistance.
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Critical architectural and technological decisions often happen without service design involvement, highlighting collaboration gaps to address.
Notable Quotes
"You have to go from delivering a message in three bullets to delivering a massive service blueprint in the next moment."
"There’s pressure for efficiency and simplification that often borders on oversimplification."
"Maturity is not linear; the tanker company had a world-class service design team the fast-moving company could learn from."
"Everyone in a company is circling around similar topics, but each uses very different models and languages."
"Models are sense-making tools; trying to come up with one preeminent model for the company is a recipe for disaster."
"You need to understand where the momentum is in your organization and choose to go with the main current or hang out in eddies."
"Fairy gliding across a river means using the opposing force of the current to move effectively, not fighting it head-on."
"Estuaries are highly productive and dynamic, but also very sensitive and need protection."
"It is impossible to survive by pushing against the current all the time; patient opportunism is key."
"Critical architectural decisions are often made in engineering meetings without service designers; collaboration gaps need closing."
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