Compromises and requirements
Things I did
Scoping of the ‘service design universe’ as a massive journey list
Worked with our product manager to compare gaps between different offerings to propose potential mitigants in CX
Closing and following up with ‘open design questions’ — our approach to resolving dependencies that may impact the customer experience
Facilitated a workshop between service design, product, comms and business to discuss different areas of ‘BAU’ processes, and where things may need to change
Leaning into a project management role
It’s been more than 2 months since I started this role with a banking client, where I’m adjusting to a new type of PM role. This involves acting as a bridge for our on-the-ground service designers, towards different areas of a large-scale change programme. These areas cut through vertically, through multiple layers of governance, but also horizontally, where some teams are ‘specialist’ (e.g. work on a sole feature) and ‘generalist’ (e.g. tech delivery).
These moving parts make defining the target-state journey a difficult challenge, so I’m constantly evolving my approach. This involves a blend of product ownership and journey management, like:
Scoping all the journeys that need to be designed for, almost like a JTBD to be checked off as ACs
Keeping a backlog of open questions that span across high-level feasibility to low-level details, to us on track of decision-making (especially where a customer journey may be impacted)
Working with our service designers to ensure that this gets mapped and threading the lens of the customer into ongoing build-ready conversations
Making trade-offs
I feel like the recurring theme on this project is accepting where trade-offs can be made, even at the cost of experience. Meeting milestones and maintaining feasibility is something we do everywhere, but the nature of working on a banking service = more regulatory, compliant, bureaucratic. It makes things harder, but I heard someone say this week about the skill of ‘compromising on requirements’: aka learning where to pick battles, but also owning this decision long after its made. A typical example is defending the need to personalise everything. Not everyone needs a white-glove service, and practically, product-centric industries like banks make it nearly impossible. High effort, low value.
Reads
Stop Being the Analyst and Start Being the Strategist, WeiWei Hu
Solving for Why, Derek Beyer
“I’ll keep doing the same thing I’ve done before. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The Journey is the Story, Pontus Wärnestål
Experience shapes perception, Byungsu Kim
How storyboarding can help ensure that AI experiences serve user needs, Kai Wong
