Summary
One of service design’s early principles was the move away from the industrial, siloed mindset and to think in terms of connected ecosystems. In the last 10-15 years, the rise of the product-led organization has brought efficiencies but also allowed organizations to slip back into industrial, siloed models. Increasingly, service design is being employed to provide a connected view across product teams, but this raises important questions. Where should service design sit in the org? Who should they report to? How should service design best interact with and enable product teams without clashing with product operations? In this session, Service Design: From Insight to Implementation co-authors Lavrans Lovlie and Andy Polaine invite service design and product practitioners to share their experiences and principles for service design operating in product-led environments.
Key Insights
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Service design often acts as a horizontal glue connecting siloed product teams in product-led organizations.
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Despite well-designed individual products, companies struggle to bundle services due to disjointed customer journey designs.
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Many organizations lack a clear home or reporting line for service design, which reduces its power and influence.
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Language matters: framing service design in business terms is critical to securing funding and leadership buy-in.
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Product management has successfully captured business language and resources, sometimes leading to siloed structures.
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Service design is often practiced under different names and disguises within organizations.
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Enablers for service design include leadership sponsorship, integrated tooling (like journey management platforms), and cross-team collaboration.
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The shift from industrial assembly-line organizational thinking to ecosystem thinking remains a challenge.
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Access to the right conversations, meetings, and communication channels significantly affects service design effectiveness.
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Service design’s role in product-led organizations requires balancing strategic storytelling with practical integration methods.
Notable Quotes
"Service design is product strategy."
"Lots of service design is happening but it is in disguise."
"If you’re not on the invite list, it’s almost impossible to do the right work."
"Product teams have done excellent work in their own silos but struggle to sell bundled services."
"Organizations have a finite pot of money and many more initiatives than resources."
"The shift from an industrial assembly-line mindset to ecosystem thinking is the core of what service design proposes."
"Language matters, so does money, and how you connect to business determines your funding."
"Service designers are often brought in to fix the cracks that open up when teams work in silos."
"The people work—the conversations and relationships—are a large part of the work, not just obstacles."
"Many places don’t call it service design but are doing service design activities in practice."
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