An Introduction to Service Design

For us, it’s really important to have at least half of our team come from the existing service system and working with us full time. Designers are often great at having ways to move through a process, but often lack the kind of historical or philosophical context of things that have been tried before. We need that depth of knowledge and expertise. This is why we read articles from different disciplines and want to work alongside folks that have been in a particular field for ten, twenty, thirty years. They have those historical reference points. They know what’s been tried and what hasn’t worked. At the same time, we’re trying to take a fresh approach on it. It’s a really interesting dance. We are critical of the existing service system, and we’re asking our secondees to have a very critical lens on the work they’ve done in the past as well. We emphasize that we need newer, alternative ways of doing things, while at the same time, understanding the depth of the know-how that is there.