Organising the Process of Developing New Services

Bill Hollins of Direction Consultants and the University of Westminster had to explain the idea of service design to AIGA experience design London. He seemed resigned to the fact that it needed explaining. The relevant standard, BS7000 pt3 (1994), is only purchased by manufacturers. 'Service providers don't seem to realise you can design a service,' he told the packed room at the Design Council in late April.

Hollins pointed to several features that distinguish a service from a manufactured product: services are not tangible, transportable or storable for peeks in demand. They are harder to judge for quality. And they involve customer contact, so that production and consumption takes place at the same time.

Only 17% of service providers had an effective process for designing new services, he said, and of these most of them developed a greater turnover from recent product launches than the norm. 'The main reason for failing products is not understanding the customer,' he added. Market research and a tight set of specifications is essential. These specifications need recording in such a way that they can be referred to. Doing this work up front saves costs later, when failures are avoided.

His team at Westminster are currently researching the use of specifications in the service industry. At present, he’s finding a rate of about 50% for respondents who have seen a specification in the last seven years; and most of these described what they'd seen as poor. 'Service design is still not managed in an organised manner,' he said. 'Providers are not adequately in control of new products.'

His audience challenged his assertion that written specifications were needed, saying they slowed down the process and could be seen as a paper pushing exercise. But 85% of decisions are made and finances committed in the first 15% of a project's life, he warned. Asked what the difference between planning and service design amounted to, he said there was little difference except planning theory usually lagged behind. And he agreed with the person who pointed out that the service design standards should be 'instantly visually stimulating' rather in than the boring, closely printed presentation style that is used now.

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.