The conclusion: Strengthening the product experience
Embedding service design delivers a stronger experience for those interacting with a product. Breaking down the product and experience into moments enables each element to be prioritized, understood, and ready for iteration. By documenting people’s roles and interactions with the product, the build is poised to include all necessary perspectives. Accounting for the product environments and use conditions sets the course build elements (e.g., internationalization, layout, color considerations, data density) targeted to deliver the optimal performance.
An identified current state. What exists to date?
A targeted future state. What is the end goal?
External factor research. What impacts the experience?
Defined dependencies. What needs to happen for the product to work?
Then design the service blueprint based on the collective findings influencing the entire experience, including:
A documented customer journey. What happens before, during, and after using the product?
A well-produced experience. What are the front and back-stage factors influencing the outcome?
A clear understanding of technical support processes. What drives the experience outside of the customer?
Map out the front and back-stage experiences, support processes, dependencies, interactions, pain points, and risks for a fulsome picture of the product. Rather than discovering issues mid-flight, identify, and plan for possible obstacles. Like a formula one driver scoping the curves of a racecourse, the team sees the path ahead and adjusts to new conditions as they present themselves.
In addition to a well-analyzed problem space, nothing is more powerful than getting everyone into a room for a focused meeting to answer the question: “Why aren’t we building software yet?” The nuances and challenges are unique for every product. That said, a structured workshop uncovers and examines each aspect of a digital product. Our experience has shown that there is no replacement for a focused collocated working session to kick off the project together.