SERVICE DESIGN IN TECH
Service Design
Title: Service Design in tech
Location: Remote, pre-recorded talk for UX Bristol Conference 2020
Title: Service Design in tech
Location: Remote, pre-recorded talk for UX Bristol Conference 2020
James Chudley got in touch early in 2020 and asked if I'd like to prepare content for UX Bristol (at the time we didn't know it would be a remote conference of course). I said yes immediately.
I love UX Bristol. This year, the crew of organisers were celebrating their 10 year anniversary running it. Taking part felt meaningful and a good way to give back - considering UX Bristol is where I kick-started my professional network in Bristol back in 2018.
I thought back to the first time I went to the conference, and remembered how little I knew about working in-house. I'd never done it before and I didn't know I was soon after going to take on a full time job at OVO Group. I decided to make a talk for my former self back in 2018, to explain what to expect and how to navigate an in-house role as a former consultant.
Format-wise, I am obsessed with poolsidefm's nostalgic music and style. I thought that if I was going to do a pre-recorded talk, I could make the most out of people's time by bringing my talk into the poolside FM world.
I was 100% sure I should be able to find assets online to make this happen. I was mistaken. There was no 'ready made' UI pack online. Still obsessed with how cool this could look on screen, I resolved to work a little harder and make the assets all from scratch.
I would like to prevent future speakers from doing what I had to do, so please find all the necessary files in .zip format below. Mostly ready to go. If in doubt, check out the Medium tutorial. I hope it talks you out of trying. Jokes, you can do it!
I thought back to the first time I went to the conference, and remembered how little I knew about working in-house. I'd never done it before and I didn't know I was soon after going to take on a full time job at OVO Group. I decided to make a talk for my former self back in 2018, to explain what to expect and how to navigate an in-house role as a former consultant.
Format-wise, I am obsessed with poolsidefm's nostalgic music and style. I thought that if I was going to do a pre-recorded talk, I could make the most out of people's time by bringing my talk into the poolside FM world.
I was 100% sure I should be able to find assets online to make this happen. I was mistaken. There was no 'ready made' UI pack online. Still obsessed with how cool this could look on screen, I resolved to work a little harder and make the assets all from scratch.
I would like to prevent future speakers from doing what I had to do, so please find all the necessary files in .zip format below. Mostly ready to go. If in doubt, check out the Medium tutorial. I hope it talks you out of trying. Jokes, you can do it!
THE EFFECT WAS SUCCESSFUL AND CONFUSION TOOK OVER THE LAND
ABOUT THE TALK
Outside of fintech, tech companies don't usually hire Service Designers – yet.
It might be because we like to pick things apart and tech companies like to put things together, or because Service Design is a relatively new practice (my job didn't exist until 1984, when a brilliant bank exec, Lynn Shostack, wrote about it in HBR). I personally think it's because creating a Service Design function inside successful tech companies takes hard work.
That said, technology underpins the best and worst services out there, so the opportunity to have a positive impact on millions of lives seems well worth the effort.
In this talk me and 3 other special guests (from Moonpig and N26), will manage your expectations if you're thinking about joining a tech company. Especially If you're joining as a Service Designer (like me) and are terrified about knowing:
PS – What does a Service Designer do?
Outside of fintech, tech companies don't usually hire Service Designers – yet.
It might be because we like to pick things apart and tech companies like to put things together, or because Service Design is a relatively new practice (my job didn't exist until 1984, when a brilliant bank exec, Lynn Shostack, wrote about it in HBR). I personally think it's because creating a Service Design function inside successful tech companies takes hard work.
That said, technology underpins the best and worst services out there, so the opportunity to have a positive impact on millions of lives seems well worth the effort.
In this talk me and 3 other special guests (from Moonpig and N26), will manage your expectations if you're thinking about joining a tech company. Especially If you're joining as a Service Designer (like me) and are terrified about knowing:
- How does a service designer work in tech?
- How is "end to end" thinking done inhouse?
- How can I work with teams who push out features every week?
- How might we turn delivery teams into empowered teams?
- How might we balance speed & learning as a company?
PS – What does a Service Designer do?
- We build relationships with people who provide services.
- We then become passionate about the humans in, out and around that service.
- Finally, we work with all the mentioned humans, to change the system for everyone's benefit.
