Summary
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Here's the snapshot on the project.
INDUSTRY
PROJECT TYPE
DURATION
STAKEHOLDERS
MY ROLE
Events
Service Design
2 Years+
All Service Design Enthusiasts
I co-founded the Service Design Network NY Chapter
Full Case Study
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7 min read
The Background
01
This is a personal passion project where I built a space for the community to share and learn from each other on how Service Design mindset and techniques can be applied to our professional work and personal life.
The journey of building the community consists of using all kinds of design tools, from user research (i.e. literally recruiting people to interview), to rapid prototyping (i.e. event engagement format), and to the constant iterations (i.e. communication, volunteer management, and etc). This case study will show you how to apply Design Thinking mindset into all touch points of your Service Design journey!
So how did this project start?
In 2017, I was very active in various design community gatherings. While I enjoyed attending most of the events, I noticed there was a lack of conversation on Service Design which is an idea or rather practice I picked up while studying broad at Copenhagen in 2016.
As I continued my search, I soon realized that among the 53 global chapters in Service Design Network, New York was absent. Puzzled and slightly shocked, I thought to myself, if there's no existing community in New York just yet, why don't I start one?
Like any startup stories you might have read, all the stories began with a pain point. And my pain point of not finding space and people to exchange ideas on Service Design led to my how-might-we statement here —
How might we have a space for people (like me) who are interested in talking about Service Design in New York City so that they can learn and exchange ideas on how to apply Service Design methodologies in place needed?
The Approach
02
If you ever worked on a project starting from scratch, you know when sky is the limit doesn't always play to your advantage. As a matter of fact, having certain constraints will help you make decision in a timely manner. Thankfully, time is my biggest constraint since I was doing this on the side not as a full time job.
So how did I get started?
I began my process by doing the following things
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Interview stakeholders
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Design professionals who attend events in NYC
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Design professionals with Service Design experience in NYC
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Service Design Network (HQ) Community Coordinator
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Service Design Network chapters leads in SF, Chicago, Finland, Taiwan
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Market research
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Service Design companies
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Service Design government initiatives
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Service Design education
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Other Design community event types & formats
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By the time I finished doing all these research on my own, I spoke to 23 stakeholders and clearly saw there's an opportunity in the market to start another meetup community, designating to Service Design.
My 4 takeaways from this research phase were
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People want a space to learn and chat about Service Design
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Companies and government are looking for ways to incorporate Service Design into their practices
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Having regular event schedule would create better engagements as a community
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To start a community, you need partners and sponsors to be sustainable
From here, the best next step is really to test these assumptions.
The best way to learn? Prototype! I'm a firm believer that "People say what they do but don't do what they say". The only way to find out if your product or service is needed is to test your assumptions!
Among the Service Design professionals I've spoken to in the city, I was able to connect and reconnect with folks I've met in other events. When I pitched to them about the idea of starting a meetup to validate my assumptions, many of them eventually joined me on the ride!
The first prototype debuted! Our first event was at the basement of Flatiron Hall Restaurant and Beer Hall. 74 people signed up in less than a week and about half showed up (which we later learned that's the show-up rate for free events).
There were obvious challenges in the logistics but we designed every touch point to ensure we could provide the best conversational environment for the attendees —
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Way-finding signage,
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Bingo for self-facilitated conversations, and
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Portable easel pad with lots of markers and post-its to gather community needs which plays a pivotal role for our future event curations!
Assumption Validated! From this first prototype, I learned that there is a community interest in Service Design. Also, many people want to get involved in this process to HELP! Among the people who stepped up to help, we eventually became a team of 10! We continue to prototype different event format and engagement models till today!
The Outcome
03
TODAY
There are 10 of us in the core team
There are 2,000 + community members on our meetup
We have hosted more than 30 events up-to-date
We have produced a Service Safari program on our own
We have Capital One, EY, Squarespace as our sponsors
We meet every second Tuesday of the month (sometimes more!)
LAST YEAR
We won the Most Excellent Event Organization among 54 global chapters of SDN
We also had ZERO dropout rate in Global Service Design Jam for the first time in NYC history
The Lesson
04
FOR PRACTITIONER
I often get this question on how did you do it?
My answer has always been the same — Just do it!
Since day 1, my mentality has always been "what's the worst can happen?" And it turns out there's never the worst thing but rather the best thing keeps happening to me which is I LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY!
Without consciously thinking about what framework or methodologies to apply, I learned that if you ask the right question, all else will follow. It's not about the tool. It's about the mindset!
FOR BUSINESS
If you want to apply my process into starting a business rather than starting a community. You absolutely can. Here are a few lessons I learned in the process —
1. Do your research
I know people say this all the time but it's only through research you will be able to learn about the problem space
2. Prototype
You MUST prototype to validate your research findings and assumptions made. It really doesn't take a lot to prototype something small to understand your target customers.
3. Narrow your scope
Often, I see people have great vision but unable to execute because their scope is too broad. I learned that it's great to have vision but you have to be realistic.
4. Find good people
I cannot do this on my own. Every single step of the way I was able to carry on this journey because I have good team support and sounding board.
5. Help your team grow
I spend just about the same amount of time if not more on hosting internal bonding activities and educational opportunities for my core team. To me, people are the reason this community exists. I need thought leaders to continue to grow and partner with me, so we can keep this community around.
6. Do your individual and team retro
It is only through self-reflection, you will find ways to improve your process. Self-retro is important because it gives you your "why". Doing team retro will make sure you align.
Lastly, I wanted to end with this African Proverb that spoke deeply to my heart as I reflect in the process — If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together. So true!
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