How we run a service design sprint

What is a service?

Something that I use but do not own

Mat Hunter, Chief Design Officer at the Design Council

A product is usually something that you own and hold. A service is something that is done for you.

For example a mobile phone is a product. It is a window into many services (connecting you to someone, getting pages from the internet, bringing you games, etc.)

Local Government offers many services to various service users. The users could be citizens or businesses, and range of services is wide

What is service design

Service design is a form of conceptual design which involves the activity of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality and the interaction between service provider and customers.

Wikipedia - service design

How does this happen in Civica Digital Services

We use a tailored version of Google Venture's design sprint to design product. This model can also be used to design services

In workflow360 a service is represented by a workflow map and surrounding infrastructure.

For instance a citizen may report want to report fly tipping to the council. The outcome they are looking for is that it gets cleared up. This service is a combination of many factors, starting with a web page or a phone call. This can be described using web forms or call scripts. In the background there may need to be involvement with multiple departments, third parties and of course the citizen themselves. This interaction is described using a workflow map.

Overall aim

At the end of design sprint we aim to have a working high fidelity prototype which has been through a test with real (or as real as we can get) users. For a service design sprint a high fidelity prototype means a demonstrable, testable, workflow map.

• Organise - Setting the stage

  Book a room and get the right people. We have split this sprint into day one and day two so you need to get a room and people for these two days. You maybe doing both day one and two in a single day depending on the size of your service.

  You want no more than eight people. A strong facilitator who knows how to get the best out of people, keep the day(s) moving and understands exactly what outcomes are required. Two times (from two different councils): a decision maker, a systems administrator and one key personnel from the service area being tackled. One additional resource from Civica who will observe and help build the high fidelity prototype for the user test.

  Get the right problem described as a loosely defined user story

  Do you research

  Schedule the test

• Day 1 am - understand

  "How might we"s, Business opportunities, lightening demos, lay it out, how to measure success, existing resource, team interviews, analytics

  You should end the understand session with a sketched out user story as a story board

• Day 1 pm - diverge

  Choose part of the problem, take notes, mind maps (5W 1H), workflow map crazy 8s. workflow map storyboard, silent critique, three minute critique, super vote, repeat

• Day 2 am - decide

  Search for conflicts, best shot / battle royal, test assumptions, whiteboard the workflow map as a story board

• Day 2 pm - prototype

  Create workflow map in system, stub out all interaction, use real instructions, keep it to minimal

• Day 3 - knuckle down - Civica only

  Take all stubbed out interaction and the workflow map and make it as real as possible. Ideally you should have a fully working service on a fully working system. If not document and raise what other work is required.

• Day 4 - user tests

  Conduct user tests, validate and report.

Total outcome

A working prototype and a list of work of what is required to get it into production.