Thinking in Services: Encoding and Expressing Strategy through Design

by Majid Iqbal

We think we know services ― not a day goes by without using them ― until we have to design them. It is then that their realities confront us, teasing us sometimes. While services have always been ‘designed’, the qualities of their designs are more important than ever, given how much more we depend on them. Thus the need for deepening our understanding of what services are, what they can be, and why they fail ― often in unexpected ways. This book reveals the surprising design of services ― their internal structure or ‘DNA’ ― through simple diagrams. It introduces a language and format for describing the concept of a service with clarity and depth. And, it provides the principles for implementing strategy through design.

Genres: Design, Business

240 pages, Paperback

Published December 18, 2018

Reviews

[Thor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of valuable pure concepts to dig into here, and new tools to put to use. The author has thought deeply about the architecture of services, and it has me thinking differently about how to use factorial design in this field. But as a book it isn't always clear, concise or compelling to read.

[Vuk Trifkovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

It should be called "Overthinking in Services". Beautifully produced volume. Writing is unnecessarily opaque or even worse gimmicky. Yet the ideas are very good and very useful.

I wish the author comes up with a more accessible iteration so it can be more widely adopted. Or perhaps it gives those of us who have bothered to read it an edge.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a contributor my rating is biased. As a reader I'm impressed by the depth of thought in this systemic-structural characterization of services, and the implications thereof on experience and outcomes.

It's not easy to get into. In part because new ways of thinking require some work. In part because there is more work to be done to make these ideas initially tractable.