Integrating Service Design with Pilot Projects

Moa Mattjus, MBA in Service Design at Novia University of Applied Sciences
Reija Anckar, Ph.D. (Econ.) Head of Master’s Degree Programme in Business, Service Design at Novia University of Applied Sciences

Developing new apps and software programmes is becoming increasingly popular and as a result it has made the process of developing easier. If we look at how many of all apps and software programmes that succeed the numbers are grim. So, why do so many apps fail? One answer to this is the lack of a human perspective while developing the software. Developers and innovators have an idea of what they want and how it could be done –generally they do not have the insights from potential clients.

Prototyping a service is no different from a prototyping a software. The need to gather insights directly from future customers is crucial if you want to succeed. Customers’ needs will make or break your product, as will the users’ pain-points. If the pain-points are identified at the prototyping stage, they can be eliminated and improved upon before the software is being released to the public. One of the most used prototyping methods is to conduct a pilot project to test the product you have - and this is where Service Design comes in!

Service Design is used to design services and products from the end-users’ point of view or as a human-centred approach. Based on the results a minimum viable product is created. Service Design offers a range of methods to develop and improve products and services. However, the process is not linear, it is a controlled chaos to find a good design solution for the product or service.

Using Service Blueprinting will clarify the project at hand and give a visual overview of the pilot project.

To initiate the integration of a standard pilot project and a pilot project with Service Design, we must establish a foundation for the prototype stage. Using Service Blueprinting will clarify the project at hand and provide a visual overview of the pilot project. While blueprinting your project you can add the methods you want to use at different phases. Do you wish to know the first impressions, do you want to know what is challenging for your potential client, or do you want to know what the positive aspects of your product are? All these questions can be answered if we incorporate the right Service Design methods and tools at the right time.

It's important to remember that even with the right methods it can be hard to get the expected results if we do not time them right. If we want to know the pilot group’s first impressions of our software or product, we can for instance use the Think Aloud- method. It is, however, vital to ask if we should use it when presenting the product or when the customer starts using it? The simple answer is that it depends on what we want to know. If we desire to know what prejudices customers’ have about the product without using it, we should use the method when presenting the product, perhaps in written form. If we want to know what users’ thinks when using the app for the first time, then we should use a full-fledged Think Aloud method, recording their spoken thoughts as they test the product for the first time.

When testing the product, we can use other methods to detect the pain-points of our future customers. A Customer Journey Map is perfect to fill out the different stages of the journey for the pilot group. When feedback is gathered, we can map out where most of the friction appears, even though the feedback might not have mentioned it. This advantage positions us ahead of the human factor, which undoubtedly plays a role in a pilot project.

Gathering feedback from a pilot project can be a challenge, as there needs to be some motivations for doing so, but there’s also help at hand. A workshop engaging the pilot group can raise motivation if done correctly. If we show appreciation and let the participants take part in the results, there’s evidence showing it can raise the motivation. This is naturally an important reason to increase the feedback. Whenever there is feedback, there is also analysis. Analysing the feedback and results can be challenging, especially if there’s a lot of feedback. While it largely depends on what is prototyped and how the feedback is gathered, there is a method that can be used in most situations. The PESTLE-analysis. This method doesn’t require any special skills or programmes, and it’s fully customizable to your needs!

What we can conclude from this is that we can use Service Design in a pilot project to enhance the results and to incorporate feedback in the development phase of a product. We need to have a good basis, suitable methods conducted at the right time, engagement, and a good analysis. These pillars together create a good pilot with hints of service design in it to develop your product from a human-centred perspective.

Sources

• Charters, E. (2003). The Use of Think-aloud Methods in Qualitative Research; An Introduction to Think-aloud Methods. Brock Education Journal, 12(2), 68-79. doi:HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.26522/BROCKED.V12I2.38Levinsen, K., & Ørngreen, R. (2017). Workshops as a Research Methodology. Copenhagen, Denmark, Denmark. Retrieved 11 16, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1140102.pdf
• Mattjus, M. (2024,). Prototyping Competence Software Using Service Design Methods and Tools. Turku, from https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024051411866
• Stickdorn, M., Edgar Hormess, M., Lawrence, A., & Schneider, J. (2018). This Is Service Design Doing : Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World (1 ed.). O'Reilly Media, Incorporated.

Short Bio of the Author: Moa Mattjus has a background in tourism- and hospitality management but has later started working within the transport logistics sector as a commercial representative. Moa enjoys gardening and mushroom-picking in her free-time as well as attending cultural events.

The blogpost has been reviewed by Novia's editorial board and accepted for publication on 6.6.2024.