The document discusses promise theory and how it can be used to improve digital service quality. Promise theory views systems as collections of autonomous agents collaborating through promises. It can help organizations design their services from the customer perspective by modeling customer journeys and making explicit promises about the experience. Keeping promises builds trust while acknowledging uncertainty enables resilience. Promise theory provides a framework to unify design, operations, and support across an organization.

1. Better Service Through
Promise Theory
Jeff Sussna Ingineering.IT @jeffsussna

2. Work: help companies adopt IT innovation
History: dev + QA + ops
Method: design thinker, thought-process challenger

3. 1.What is promise theory?
2. What is service?
3. How does one help the other?

4. Software is eating the world…

5. Every business is a digital business

6. The physical…

7. …merges with the virtual

8. Internal systems connect…

9. …with external
experiences

11. Systems + People
Functionality + Operability
Physical + Digital

13. To understand complex socio-technical systems…

14. …you first must understand teenagers

17. “I promise I’ll clean my room before dinner.”

18. Intention

19. Expression

20. Intensity

21. Benefit

22. A promise is
“a strongly stated intention to provide service”

24. Protip: promises aren’t always kept

25. A promise is
“a strongly stated intention to provide service
that may or may not come to pass”

27. I promise to store the word ‘foo’ in the file bar.txt

30. Real-world systems!
Collections of autonomous agents
collaborating through promises

31. Acknowledging uncertainty enables greater certainty

32. Auto-scaling
Circuit breakers
Continuous integration
Design-for-fail

33. Treating agents as autonomous enables greater
scalability and resilience

34. Microservices
Self-organizing teams
Scaling agile
Needs + promises > requirements

36. What is service?

37. Experience, not thing

38. Relationship, not transaction

39. Value co-creation, not delivery

40. Service providers promise to help customers
accomplish their jobs-to-be-done

41. “The product is the trip”!
-AirBnB designer

42. All aspects of a service organization must collaborate
to fulfill customer promises

43. Brand quality == ops quality

45. What is the traveler’s job-to-be-done on arrival?

48. How can Promise Theory help digital service quality?

49. What promises should we make?

50. Promise theory engenders empathy

51. What promises do we need others to make to us?

52. What should we do to maximize trust?

53. What promises do our customers need to make?

55. As a hotel operator
I promise to help you rest as part of your trip

56. As a reservation system
I promise to help you reserve a satisfactory room
I promise to be functional usable and available
I promise not to lose your reservation
I promise not to let your credit card get stolen

57. As a hotel lobby
I promise to help you transition from travel to rest
I promise to be clean, attractive, and navigable
I promise to be friendly and helpful
I promise to give you a place to store your luggage

58. As a front-desk system
I promise to help you get the guest checked in
I promise to be functional usable and available
I promise to find the right information quickly

59. As a hotel property
I promise to support your larger service context
I promise to update your airline rewards points
I promise to help you find a nice restaurant for dinner
I promise to let you work from your room
I promise to get you a taxi in time to get to the airport

60. Promise Theory helps span boundaries
Horizontal and vertical silos
Disciplines and perspectives
Providers and customers
Service systems

61. DevOps is to Promise Theory as…

63. MktDesDevQASuppEtcOps becomes…

64. …Promise Thinking!
(w/apologies to Design Thinking)

65. Model the organization from the customer in
Customer journey
Service blueprint

66. View relationships in terms of promises
Benefit
Empathy
Autonomy
Resilience

67. Unify design, operations, and repair

68. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Read:
‘In Search of Certainty’, Burgess
‘Promise Theory’, Bergstra/Burgess
‘Understanding Computers and Cognition’, Winograd/Flores

69. www.ingineering.it
blog.ingineering.it
linkedin.com/in/jeffsussna
@jeffsussna

70. Photo credits!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/donhomer/12862086683/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/uniquehotelsgroup/5690081235/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbill/6566209207/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/neospire/3595638270/
http://www.rewardexpert.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Global-Entry1.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/7780990192/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/drainrat/14644026133
https://www.flickr.com/photos/crabchick/6261927068/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mplemmon/2691465516/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/48722974@N07/4596672640/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebrenner/305255359/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/5719382021/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmrosenfeld/3155170767/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/5785125108/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/11790927943/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/11553519@N03/4634956248/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seafaringwoman/5461280385/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/surmolotto/3510114082/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/44124466731@N01/27687364/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jylcat/538008079/