As you start in EDCA, remember that the User/Customer is at the center of your universe. You have to continue improving and earning the right to remain within their sphere of influence. Most of us design services around how we think, not how the customer thinks. We have this idea that we know what is right. What I can tell you is that you are probably wrong. Move away from thinking that you are the “expert” or the smartest person in the room. Instead move towards the thinking that the “room is the smartest person.” In the EDCA outline that follows take the time to invest in learning from and with your customer. Invest in an excellent customer service experience. Keep asking yourself:
| Whom do we serve? | Who are the influencers? |
| Is the service personalized? | Are we creating memorable experiences, stories? |
| Is customer experience everyone’s job? | Is everyone willing to take ownership of the experience? |
| Is service thought of as a competitive advantage? | Is service reinforcing our company’s value proposition? |
| Are we looking at measures holistically? | Are we measuring what counts to our customers? |
Is the service (touchpoint) good enough to create a desire to visit us again?
This video though centered around products provides a great lesson on Service Dominant Logic Thinking and how it was originally misapplied and later applied correctly.
My takeaways from the video: Design for People There are no dumb users, just dumb services! The right way to deliver a service is the easiest way!
What were yours?
A comment from Timothy Prestero:
In Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson quotes Steve Jobs on the allegory of the concept car. Most products lose their innovative spark because the standard linear product development process–where the concept passes from designers to engineers and then to manufacturing–ultimately favors simplification and subtraction. Apple produces superior results because “all the groups […] meet continuously through the product-development cycle, brainstorming, trading ideas and solutions, strategizing over the most pressing issues, and generally keeping the conversation open to a diverse group of perspectives.” (p.171)
Also, when considering outcomes, it’s hard to resist becoming reductionist. Affordability is critical, but cost estimates need to include “cost to buy” as well as “cost to own.” Similarly, where sales volume and profitability are suitable success indicators for many consumer products, “use and benefit” is the only meaningful indicator in design for social impact. It’s a daunting standard: one definition of hell is “accountability without authority”–and as mere designers we aren’t the ones putting Firefly in hospitals or babies in the device.
Visual Management: Developing regular discussion around the visual management board is one of the most important processes in the creative process. It is the easiest way to build a collaborative structure. Most creative types do not like to hear this, but it is the foundation of Leader Standard Work; visualization and joint responsibility. As we develop more complexity and drive down decision making to the customer facing areas this structure provides the clarity and feedback for even the inexperienced service provider. The Standard Work of EDCA will generate more creative solutions versus hindering them.
- It will save time on documentation and reporting.
- People are actually more creative when they have a framework to start with.
- Teamwork is part of the process from the beginning, and teams are always more creative (and effective) than the individual.
Don’t try to refine your ideas to soon. You want just enough detail to move to the next step. You may even want to use independent teams with different focus points such as one with a functional slant and another with a social slant. One that aims at self-service while another without technology. Conflict and debate are encouraged and trade-offs and compromise should be continuous in this process. Ultimately, only the customer can decide. Ron Masticelli says it very well in his book, Building a Project-Driven Enterprise;
- An iterative feedback process between the product design team and the customer(s) or market(s).
- Use of real, tangible models, simulations, prototypes, strawmen, etc., that can evoke gut-level customer reactions, capture tacit desires, and evolve as new learning takes place.
- Involvement of the CEO and executive team in reviewing the new-product business case, and fully committing the organization’s resources to a successful development effort.
Watch this video on how to apply these steps and LSDT EDCA:
PDF Download of Lean Service Design Trilogy EDCA Cycle
Part 2 of 2
Password: Trilogy10
I hope that you have designed your own workbook and your own visual management boards. Making this process your own is how the work enabled. Most people take a course and download the software or the workbook and try to apply without going through the necessary steps to learn the process. I hope that you have started your experiment, your PDCA cycle in adding these thoughts to your toolbox and the way you do your work. This course is my experiment. Your feedback is important and I would appreciate your comments and suggestions. Please contact me through his website or drop me an email at [email protected]. If you would like to have a copy of the worksheets in one central location, please download the