The talk from Service Experience Camp 2013 #sxc13 — remade for slideshare to be comprehensible (I hope) without me talking in front of it. Actually, it might be even better than the live session because I ran into some serious trouble with my computer and explaining sociology back then. Of course, what's missing is the audience, so please send me any comment that you find in your mind or heart. Thanks in advance!

1. unintended
consequences
#sxc13
Jan Martinek | @endlife
~ reworked & extended version, just for slideshare ~
~ just because I like you all ~

2. This deck is not about
a problem.
Though I’ll use the word “problem”. I’ll explain.

3. It’s about the world as
we know it. And don’t.

4. (first part)

5. What word did
you overuse most?

6. Innovation

7. Innovation
“I know what you disrupted last summer.”
(@evgenymorozov)

8. We change things a lot.
That’s what we do.
We call it design.

9. We change things a lot.
We try to
make things better.

10. Design is
solving problems
without
creating new problems.

11. Design is
solving problems
trying to avoid
creating new problems.
Or maybe…

12. Design is
solving problems
and
creating new problems.
perhaps more like…

13. Those old dinosaur-like things have
evolved for a long time.
They have evaded many traps, they have
adapted to many circumstances.
And you dare to change them?
To violate their quiet ticking?

14. There are two kinds of them.
New problems

15. New problems
foreseeable
problems
unforeseeable
problems

16. New problems
foreseeable
problems
unforeseeable
problems
How do we cope with them?

17. prototyping
and stuff
How do we cope with
foreseeable
problems
unforeseeable
problems
The whole
design process
thingy we talk
about a lot.

18. How do we cope with
foreseeable
problems
unforeseeable
problems
The whole
design process
thingy we talk
about a lot.
Jesus, man?
I’m no oracle,
you know.
prototyping
and stuff

19. Should we care about
unforeseeable problems?

20. (second part)
(The short one.)

21. What is “a problem”?

22. A problem.
~ An obstacle making it hard
to achieve a goal.

23. What’s your problem?

24. What’s your problem?
Bad sleep? Evil boss? Dense traffic?
Glass ceiling? Economic crisis?
Noisy highway next to your home?

25. There are many kinds
of problems.
We cause many of them
when we innovate.

26. Problems differ in number
of people involved.

27. Problems differ in number
of people involved.
Bad sleep?
Evil boss?
Dense traffic?
Noisy highway next to your home?
Glass ceiling?
Economic crisis?
one
tens
hundreds
thousands
half of population
kinda everybody

28. There’s often not a single
person responsible
for big problems.
Big problem:
involving more than two people.

29. Big problems are
conceived socially.
“Socially” means:
in interaction between people.

30. However, let’s not limit
ourselves to just the
problems.
Many things get better;
quite often even where
we least expect it.

31. (third part)
(The most important one.)

32. Experiences are subjective.
We care about every user using the product/service.
We care about
experiences.

33. Is there a difference whether we think about
single user/client/customer or multiple people?
Are we obsessed about
individuals?

34. A person interacts with the touchpoints, right?
It’s the customer journey, right?
When we design,
we imagine a person
using the service.

35. Let’s start with simple definition.
Let’s think about
service as of a social
institution.

36. ~ established routine of interactions
between people
+ expectations of people.
Social institution

37. ~What we are supposed to do.
+What we suppose others to do.
Social institution

38. It’s about the people
and what they think and do.
(And they talk with each other, too.)
Social institution

39. It’s created by users using it
interacting with the people inside
and other users.
Service
as social institution.

40. It’s created by users using it
interacting with the people inside
and other users.
Service
as social institution.
it’s what they think it is

41. And their understanding of it
actually changes what it is.
Every one person
makes the service exist.

42. a café might be
— meeting point for friends
— place where you enjoy coffee
— laptop user’s office with free wifi
— hipster’s status symbol
An example.

43. the internet might be
— a source of information
— a marketplace
— gamechanger for music industry
— for porn
An example.

44. the uber taxi service might be
— much simpler and reliable service
— an opportunity for women drivers who are
treated harshly in traditional
male-dominated driver’s unions
— a relatively easy way how to get
strangers to enter your car…
An example.

45. People define what
service is.
And that is not a problem.
It’s just reality.

46. People define what
service is.
It might turn bad.
It might turn well.

47. People define what
service is.
It’s just good to expect unexpected.
~To be aware of
unintended consequences.

48. (fourth part)
(The last one.)

49. So what should
I take away from this?
In three bullet points?

50. • people interact with each other,
not only with product/service
• reserve resources (time, money)
for later — you’ll need it for sure
(in case of a crisis or pivot)
• design does not end with deadline

51. and three more…

52. • care about people, not only humans
• every person defines the service
• care about values (yes, like “the good
things“) contained in your service
— it’s what your service is for the
people when they talk about it

53. You can’t prototype
everything.

54. You can’t prototype
everything.
Large numbers of people
are different animal.

55. We need to learn how
not to know too much.

56. We need to learn how
not to know too much.
Or, at least, how to cope
with knowing we don’t know much.

57. That’s all.
I’m thinking about it still.
I’ll be glad for any feedback!

58. unintended
consequences
#sxc13
Jan Martinek | @endlife
Thanks for your attention!