Sticky Notes vs. Software and The Fight for Our Legitimacy / Inside Service Design / Ep. #09
Service Design Show
When Tools Make Expertise Visible — and When They Don't
Max argues tools can signal professionalism but also can be too open or break practices without governance.
Are we being left behind...
Let's think about this for a moment.
Architects have AutoCAD. Finance folks have Excel. Sales teams have Salesforce. The list goes on.
But what do we as service design professionals have?
If we're a bit cynical, you could say that often it’s a wall of sticky notes (that the cleaners throw away at night).
This brings up a deep and often unspoken insecurity in our field.
Could it be that our work is seen as "fluffy" or "invisible" because we lack the "hard" tools that other departments have?
That is the provocative question Maxe van Heeswijk brought to the Circle community recently.
She challenged us to think about whether having "our own software" would help us claim our territory and be taken more seriously by stakeholders.
But to which extent can a tool be the answer to our problems?
Will Sharples joined the conversation with a different take.
He argues that stakeholders don't actually care about our process or our "proper" service design tools, they just want their problems solved.
So in this episode of Inside Service Design, we explore this tension between wanting to be "seen" as experts and the messy reality of getting work done in-house.
This conversation is packed with spicy topics like:
- Whether having a dedicated tool makes you more legitimate, or does it just create new silos?
- Why our most important work is often the hardest to measure (and get budget for).
- A brutal method for stripping away busy work to focus on the assets that actually tell a story.
- And why you are "always selling" the value of service design, even years after you’ve been hired.
So, if you’ve ever felt like you’re doing important work... that nobody sees, this episode is for you.
What do you feel is the service design tool at the moment? Do we even have one?
Let me know, I’m really curious to hear your take!
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to December Round Up
01:00 Meet the Guests
04:00 From Physical Engineering to Digital Services
06:30 From Philosophy & Advertising to SD
10:15 Balancing Financial Goals vs. Trust
15:15 Securing Long-Term Funding
18:00 Why Patience is a Superpower
21:45 Thought Experiment
26:30 Do We Need Professional Software?
35:00 Is Design Too Democratized
44:15 Relationship Building is Slow Farming
51:00 Pragmatism vs. The Design Bibles
52:45 The Hidden Skill
55:45 Navigating Company Politics
59:30 Wrap-Up
--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---
--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---
If you're an in-house service design professional and want to learn from the stories of your peers, take a look at the Circle, it might just be the thing you're looking for.
Join our private community for in-house service design professionals:
https://servicedesignshow.com/circle
--- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---
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