Service Design Show

Service Design Show

A show where we go beyond the basic service desig…

  • 1 hour 36 seconds
    Stop designing WITH your users! There is a better way. / Sloan Leo Cowan / Ep. #217

    There's a problem with the current design process that often goes unnoticed...

    A problem that can lead to less-than-ideal outcomes or, even worse, harm certain communities.

    To understand this, we must acknowledge our huge responsibility as design professionals. We're often the only ones advocating for our users' needs, the voice of those who aren't in the room.

    It's a privilege we shouldn't take lightly.

    We make decisions, and judgment calls for the people we're designing for. Of course, we do our best with the best intentions, but we always will fall short.

    Why? Because we aren't the users. We don't live their lives or experience their struggles.

    Sure, let there be no doubt: having someone advocate for users is a good start, but it's not enough.

    We can do better; we must do better.

    Our guest, ​Sloan Leo Cowan​, helps us see what "better" looks like.

    The key is to move away from "designing for" or even "designing with" users and move towards "designing by" them. It means giving up control and power. Sound impossible?

    Sloan Leo shares practical examples of how they've achieved this in their work.

    This episode will show you a way forward if you care about creating more inclusive and equitable work.

    Stop designing WITH your users! There is a better way.

    As you'll hear, Sloan Leo's perspective on design challenges the status quo. We really need this to push the boundaries of design and ensure it stays relevant.

    Keep making a positive impact!

    Take care,

    ~ Marc

    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to Episode 217

    04:00 Sloan's social sector journey

    08:15 Defining Community?

    10:15 Service design "habits" (issues)

    12:45 Neutrality in Interpretation

    15:15 Facilitator vs. Interpreter Roles

    18:45 Facilitating towards beliefs

    19:30 Power Dynamics in Facilitation

    21:15 Binary thinking in service design

    26:45 Issue: Persona Development & Gender

    31:45 Origins of Community Design Issues

    36:00 How to approach the large scale

    38:15 Open source approach

    40:30 The challenges for service designers

    41:45 Benefits for Communities and Designers

    43:45 Advice for Aspiring Designers

    47:15 Recommended Resources

    51:45 Proudest Achievements

    54:15 Keys to Success

    56:45 Additional Resources

    57:30 Questions for Reflection

    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

    Pronouns they/he

    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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    19 December 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    The Secrets behind Research that Scales / Kate Towsey / Ep. #216

    There is no service design...

    Without high-quality research.

    Sure, we all know that.

    But doing good research is hard.

    Kate Towsey, often called the inventor of the ResearchOps field, can certainly attest to this.

    If you're a dedicated listener of the show, you might remember Kate from our conversation about a year ago where she shared that she was writing a book.

    Well, that book, titled "Research that Scales", has officially been published!

    And with a 4.9/5 rating on Amazon, it seems to have struck a chord with readers.

    Of course, we had to get Kate back on the show to discuss it.

    In this conversation we delve into topics like:

    • Do we need to scale research, and if so why?
    • What does "scale" actually mean in the context of research?
    • When should you start thinking about scaling?
    • What are the key steps to scaling research?
    • What role can AI play in all of this? Will it take over our jobs?
    • Why did it take Kate 3.5 years to publish the book?

    And as always, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

    It's hard to imagine a service design professional who wouldn't be interested in the topics we cover in this episode.

    Good research isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must.

    Without giving away too many spoilers, I found it fascinating that it's not actually research that you need to (or can) scale, but something else. Something that we as a community are pretty good at.

    Can you guess what it is?

    Enjoy and keep making a positive impact!

    ~ Marc

    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to Episode 216

    03:00 Quick overview about scaling research

    04:00 Why she wrote the book

    09:30 Pandemic's impact on the book

    13:00 Research rabbit hole

    15:00 Unscalable Research: What to Avoid

    18:30 What is enough research?

    22:00 The problem she saw

    25:00 The main bottlenecks

    27:45 Libriarian's role in making the change

    31:00 How the process work

    33:00 Knowledge as a network vs tree

    35:30 Maximizing efficient use of library

    39:00 Designing the system

    41:00 Knowledge vs. Learning: Value Proposition

    43:00 Cost center vs value center

    47:00 AI and Research: A Synergistic Future

    49:00 Cost of scaling: A Trade-off

    51:00 Strategic approach to scaling

    53:00 How to know when to scale

    54:30 Her readers insights

    56:00 Upcoming masterclasses

    58:00 Resources

    58:30 Food for thought

    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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    ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

    5 December 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour 13 minutes
    The RIGHT way to do strategy in an uncertain world? / Peter Compo / Ep. #215

    What is strategy... A plan for how you intend to achieve your goals? That's how a lot of people define strategy. But there's a problem with this rigid approach...

    As Mike Tyson wisely said once: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." Most strategies are too prescriptive about how the goal needs to be achieved.

    But we live in a VUCA world where it's getting harder and harder to predict what will happen, even just weeks ahead. The sphere of what an organization can control is shrinking (and control is an illusion anyway).

    What seemed like a wise action last week might be irrelevant today, thanks to new technology, a sudden global crisis, or a certain election outcome...

    Following your strategy in this scenario might mean you're executing what you agreed to, but it could very well lead you away from your intended goal.

    So, when there is so little we can control and predict, does that mean we shouldn't do any strategizing at all? Certainly not. We just need to adopt a more emergent approach.

    We still need a plan to align everyone, but one that allows for more flexibility and deciding in the moment what the right next step is.

    What does this type of strategy look like, and how do we get there? That's something ​Peter Compo​ has written ​a great book​ about, and I've invited him on the Show to share his learnings with us.

    We talk about:

    • Why research is becoming an increasingly important capability for any organization.
    • How we can know we'll achieve our goals if we don't know at the start which actions to take.
    • And how to help an organization used to control and prediction embrace uncertainty and flexibility.

    I know this episode will resonate with many service design professionals. It ties strongly to our mantra of "doing the right things" and not just focusing on "doing things right."

    Strategy can be a very abstract term without much substance. But what I appreciated in our conversation is that Peter makes things super practical. It's time to roll up your sleeves and get to work on your strategy.

    Enjoy and keep making a positive impact.

    ~ Marc


    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to Episode 215

    03:30 Music and emergence

    06:00 How he got into writing the book

    10:30 Pete's perspective in strategy

    16:00 The theory of emergence

    20:00 constraints & trust

    26:30 Bridging the gap of uncertainty

    30:30 Letting Go of Control

    36:30 Examples of good metrics

    41:00 False learning organization

    46:30 Trusting your team

    50:30 Aspiration-bottleneck triad

    57:00 another recommendation

    59:00 Strategy matrix

    01:04:00 Personal Impact on writing

    01:09:00 Resources

    1:11:00 Question to ponder


    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---


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    21 November 2024, 7:00 am
  • 33 minutes 21 seconds
    Advancing Service Design 2024 / Program Deep Dive with Sylvie Abookire

    An exciting new conference is just around the corner, ​Advancing Service Design 2024​. We ​recently had a chat​ with Lou Rosenfeld, the conference organizer, about key ideas behind the conference.

    Now, we're doing a deep dive into the two-day conference program with ​Sylvie Abookire​, who's part of the curation team. In this episode, you'll hear about the main themes, the inspiring (and somewhat surprising) speakers, and of course how it all ties together to advance our field.

    Sure, you can also get some of this info on the conference website, but I promise this conversation is much more fun 🙂

    I'll be presenting at the conference about the latest insights from the Salary Report and lessons learned from building the Circle community. Want to join one of my sessions? Send me an email or reach out on LinkedIn, and I'll let you know how you can attend even without a conference ticket.

    ~ ~ ~

    🎟️ Want to attend Advancing Service Design? Well, you're in luck!

    💰 Answer the simple question over here at ⁠https://www.servicedesignshow.com/asdc2024-survey⁠ to get a 10% discount on your ticket. But that's not all!

    🏆 When you sign up using this code, you'll automatically enter a contest where you can win sweet prizes.

    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 A Special Episode with Sylvie

    02:45 Sylvie's role in the conference

    04:30 Conference schedule & format

    06:00 Biggest conference challenge

    07:30 The final 8 speakers

    10:00 What the conference means to Sylvie

    12:00 Day 1: Designing in the system

    14:30 Day 1: format

    16:00 Day 1: The panel

    17:00 Audience interaction

    19:00 Day 2: Designing with the system

    22:30 How we hope the conference impacts

    24:00 Sylvie's workshops after the conference

    27:00 The most fun part of the conference

    28:00 Key Takeaways

    28:00 Visibility & Impact

    32:00 Conference Details & Tickets

    32:30 Giveaway

    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

    Grow your confidence, influence, and impact! Join the community for in-house service design professionals.

    ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

    14 November 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour 45 seconds
    Why People Aren't Listening to You - And How to Fix That / Gabrielle Dolan / Ep. #214

    I remember being subscribed to this email newsletter from a guy named Josh, all about email marketing (kind of meta)...

    Every single day, a new email from Josh would pop up in my inbox, and I'd open it right away.

    These emails were different, a bit weird even, but in the best way possible. Each one would start with something that felt totally random, a story about something Josh experienced. No mention of email marketing whatsoever.

    But every time I was hooked. I just had to know how the story ended.

    And then, bam, right at the end, with just two or three lines he'd tie it all back to email marketing in a way that just clicked.

    Those emails weren't just informative; they were actually enjoyable, to the point that I looked forward to them.

    Now being able to hold someone's attention like that always seemed like a magic superpower to me... but I learned that it's not.

    In this episode, Gabrielle Dolan, who's been teaching the craft of storytelling for over 20 years, reveals how you can grow your storytelling skills and use them to communicate your message in a way that stick and, most of all inspires action.

    And as service design professionals, we know that getting people to take action is critical for change but also very challenging.

    So whether you consider yourself a natural storyteller or not, this episode is packed with practical wisdom you won't want to miss.

    Josh, by the way, stopped sending his daily emails a while ago, but as you've noticed his lessons have stuck with me.

    Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact!

    Take care,

    ~ Marc

    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to Episode 214

    03:30 Power of stories

    06:00 Why stories make communication better

    08:00 Dealing with skepticism

    13:00 Why Organizations seek facts over stories

    14:30 Story-Resistant Culture

    18:00 Practical tips in becoming better storytellers

    23:00 Finding your stories

    24:00 Using spreadsheets

    28:00 How to be comfortable using them

    31:30 How to see if it's working (Tracking progress

    34:00 Indicators of Success

    37:00 Potential of backfiring

    39:00 Gauging level of emotion

    42:00 Advise from Ral

    44:00 How Ral's storytelling evolved

    45:30 How to use AI in storytelling

    48:30 Storytelling vs acting

    49:30 What's next in her storytelling journey

    51:30 What kept her going

    52:30 Resources

    55:30 Question to ponder


    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---


    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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    ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

    7 November 2024, 7:00 am
  • 34 minutes 57 seconds
    What's this new SD conference all about!? / Advancing Service Design Conference 2024 (Part 1) with Lou Rosenfeld

    I'm excited... There's a brand new conference just around the corner – ​Advancing Service Design​ – and it's organized by none other than Rosenfeld Media, the publisher behind some of the most iconic books in our field.

    Now you might be thinking... another conference? But trust me, this one is different. That's why I invited ​Lou Rosenfeld​ himself onto the Show to give us the inside scoop.

    In this episode, you'll learn:

    * Why Lou decided to launch a brand new conference.

    * Who is Advancing Service Design for?

    And what makes the conference different.

    So if you're curious about what all the excitement is about, make sure to tune in to this conversation.

    And as you can guess by the title there will be a part 2 where we'll dive deep into the full conference lineup and speakers.

    ---

    Want to attend Advancing Service Design? Well, you're in luck!

    Answer the simple question over here https://www.servicedesignshow.com/asdc2024-survey to get a 10% discount on your ticket. But that's not all!

    When you sign up using the provided code, you'll automatically enter a contest where you can win sweet prizes.

    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to a Special Episode

    01:30 Q&A with Lou

    03:30 Long-Awaited Service Design Conference

    06:00 Why Service Design Now?

    08:45 Conference Program

    12:00 Target Audience

    14:00 Conference Success Secrets

    19:00 Benefit in Time, Support, and Labor prep

    20:00 Why Ben Reason and Patrick Quattlebaum

    23:00 Speaker Insights

    26:00 Speaker highlights

    30:00 What to expect

    33:00 What Lou looks forward to

    36:30 How to get tickets

    39:15 Topics to stay tuned to

    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

    Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

    ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

    31 October 2024, 7:00 am
  • 1 hour 2 minutes
    Confessions of a Journey Management Pioneer / Florian Vollmer / Ep. #213

    Sure, everyone's talking about Journey Management, but few are actually doing it well... It's one thing to map out customer journeys, but quite another to truly manage them.

    The frameworks and models look great on paper, but reality is often far messier. Most organizations struggle to get a handle on even one journey, let alone a dozen!

    So I'm excited that Florian Vollmer, a true pioneer in this field, returns to the Service Design Show to share his hard-won wisdom. You might remember him from his previous appearance on the Show where he talked about managing 100+ journeys at NCR.

    What's fascinating is that Florian got a rare opportunity when starting his new role at Autodesk – a chance to rebuild a Journey Management practice from the ground up, applying all the lessons from his previous experience.

    This is your classic "I wish I knew everything I know now at the start of this project. It would have been completed twice as fast and at half the cost."This time, we dive deep into the nitty-gritty of Journey Management, tackling tough questions like:

    • Who really owns the journey?
    • Are dedicated tools essential or just a distraction?
    • Why getting granular at the touchpoint level is essential?
    • What are the biggest challenges to launching Journey Management inside an organization?

    And the million-dollar question: how do you get buy-in and funding when you're just starting out?

    So if you're already knee-deep in Journey Management or just starting to explore it, I'm sure you'll appreciate Florian's honest perspective from the trenches.

    One of my biggest takeaways from this conversation was that, as Florian explains in detail, this is really hard work. So you have to have patience and be kind to yourself. Amen to that!

    Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact.

    Take care,

    ~ Marc


    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to Episode 213

    04:00 Looking back EP 168

    05:15 Who is Florian

    07:00 What is Journey Management

    08:30 the momentum of journey management right now

    13:00 How to manage customers

    17:00 Balancing context switching

    21:00 Evolving Role Perceptions

    23:30 good quality vs great quality

    26:00 Organic conversations vs Priorities

    35:30 Who owns the journey?

    39:30 Building momentum for change

    42:30 Biggest key lessons

    46:00 Journey management vs collaborations

    48:30 Understanding journey management

    55:15 Stay tuned for another episode with Florian

    56:30 Resources


    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

    Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

    ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

    24 October 2024, 6:00 am
  • 1 hour 9 minutes
    A New Approach to Measuring Design's Impact / Stacey Barr / Ep. #212

    This might be the most profound conversation I've recorded this year...


    What if I told you that the puzzle of how to measure and quantify the value of design has already been solved?


    I know, it sounds too good to be true, right? But hear me out.


    We all struggle to express the value of design in metrics that businesses understand. The result?


    We often cut ourselves short because we can't present the impact of our work in a neat spreadsheet. It's frustrating, especially when we see decisions being made that make no sense to us based on "our data".


    There are many reasons why it's hard to quantify the return on investment of (service) design. We're creating value on a systemic level. We're doing it in co-creation, so attribution is a nightmare. The effects of our work sometimes take a long time to materialize. And the list goes on.


    So, is all hope lost? Do we throw our hands up in the air? Of course not.


    Recently, while researching better alternatives to hierarchical goal structures (which are inherently broken), I stumbled upon an article by Stacey Barr. I had never heard of Stacey or her work before. This discovery led me down a massive rabbit hole.


    Stacey is a leading expert on performance measurement. Over the last 20 years, she has developed and refined a methodology to measure, track, and improve performance that's being used in over 40 countries.


    The more I read about this methodology, the more I felt that this could be the breakthrough we've been looking for in the design field. I have to be careful not to raise expectations too high, but...


    Stacey is an unusual guest for the Show. Someone who's completely outside of our design bubble. And that's why this turned out to be such an interesting and eye-opening conversation.


    In this episode, you'll learn that there is a systemic and reliable approach to figuring out what and how you can measure the impact of design. You can take this approach and apply it to your work today! And best of all, as you'll hear, the approach builds upon a lot of the elements that we as a design community are already familiar with.


    I hope this episode will show you that we can actually get to measuring the things that matter, not just the things that are easy to measure.


    And maybe, even maybe, get you a little bit excited about measurement (yes, that's actually possible)!


    A part that I really liked in our conversation is when we rolled up our sleeves, took an abstract goal like "increasing the sense of belonging," and went step-by-step on how to break this down into more concrete and quantifiable metrics. This exercise really brought things home for me.

    Keep making a positive impact!

    ~ Marc


    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00: Welcome to Episode 212

    04:00: Marc's rant on KPIs

    05:30: Who is Stacy

    08:00: Measuring service design

    09:30: Evidence and numbers

    13:00: Circle example

    16:00: Measuring qualitative aspects

    18:00: Quantifying "sense of belonging"

    21:00: Circle buddies and belonging

    27:00: If you can't experiment...

    29:30: Client's vague goals & measurement

    34:00: Handling vague ideas & measurement

    38:30: Showing value and impact

    39:00: Individual vs. team effort

    43:00: Qualitative approach

    44:00: Significant change method

    48:00: Circle community tension

    52:00: Measuring systemic impact

    58:00: Perfection and systemic impact

    1:00:30: Importance of the whole story

    1:02:30: Compassion and starting small

    1:04:00: Starting small with systemic thinking

    1:06:30: Resources for systemic design


    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---


    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

    Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

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    10 October 2024, 6:00 am
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    Are We Designing a Landfill or Leaving a Legacy? / Jennifer Rittner / Ep. #211

    Let's start with an "easy" question today... Is design a force for good, or just another cog in the capitalist machine?

    I know many design professionals are grappling with this question. We see design's potential to have a positive impact but often find ourselves frustrated by its misuse as a tool for profit at any cost.

    The overflowing landfills, the disposable products... These are reminders of design's unintended consequences. And while we yearn to challenge the status quo, to advocate for sustainable and ethical solutions, we often face resistance from those prioritizing short-term gains. Yeah, it's a delicate balance.

    So how can we raise our voices as activists without jeopardizing our livelihoods? How do we ensure that our work benefits not only our (internal) clients but also society and the planet?

    Our guest, ​Jennifer Rittner​, has dedicated her career to exploring these questions. In the conversation, we delve into the complex relationship between design, ethics, and culture.

    • Do we need a moral compass for the design industry?
    • How much responsibility do we, as designers, bear for the impact of our work?
    • What kind of culture do we want to shape through our designs?

    If anything, this episode invites you to step back from your daily tasks and reflect on the bigger picture.

    It's an opportunity to clarify your purpose as a professional and think about how you can align your work to that. So if that sparks your interest, join us for an inspiring chat.

    Let's be honest, in a world obsessed with instant gratification, it's crucial to pause every now and than to consider the long-term consequences of our actions. We owe it to generations to come.

    Enjoy and keep making a positive impact.

    ~ Marc

    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to Episode 211

    03:30 Recalibrating Social Dynamics

    05:00 Design and Social Dynamics

    10:00 Is there an alternative?

    17:30 How her approach changed

    19:00 Marc's background

    24:00 Solution before building

    25:00 Designer reflection

    26:30 Accountability in design

    32:00 The landfill problem example

    38:00 What's holding us back?

    43:00 How to be better humans

    47:15 How we label success

    51:30 Her thoughts on designers

    58:00 Balancing what to make

    1:00:00 "The Lab culture"

    1:03:30 Power to change

    1:06:30 Resources


    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---


    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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    26 September 2024, 6:00 am
  • 57 minutes 38 seconds
    How DesignOps helps you Focus on What Matters / Meredith Black / Ep. #210

    Ever feel like the weight of the world on your shoulders as a service design professional... That you're constantly juggling your "actual" work with the complexities of organizational processes and structures? Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Our DesignOps friends are here to lighten that load. They enable us to focus on what we do best - design – by handling the operational intricacies that so often slow us down, and drain our energy. I've heard many firsthand stories of how transformative a DesignOps partner can be. But to fully unlock the potential of this partnership, we need to understand what's happening in the ever-evolving DesignOps world. That's why I'm very excited to have Meredith Black join us on the Show. Having contributed to building DesignOps teams at major companies like The New York Times, Pinterest, and Figma, and as co-founder of the largest online DesignOps community, Meredith is one of the most influential and well-informed people on the planet when it comes to DesignOps. In this episode, we dove into questions like: * What does it take to grow a successful DesignOps practice inside your org? * How does the shift towards remote work impact DesignOps strategies? * Why effective DesignOps might initially not look like what you'd expect? * And what's Meredith's secret for quickly gaining momentum and buy-in? Whether your organization already has an established DesignOps practice or you're just beginning to explore this field, I'm confident that the lessons Meredith shares in this conversation will make you a better service design professional. With the risk of over-exaggerating, tapping into Meredith's years of hard won wisdom feels a bit like cheating. So if you want to know how DesignOps can help you deliver your best work, don't miss out on this conversation. As you'll hear, DesignOps has faced quite some challenges in recent years. But at the same time it's clear that the train has left the station and will continue to move forward. DesignOps is here to stay and the future is brighter future than ever.

    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to Episode 210

    04:00 Her credibility for this topic

    07:00 Mental shift in Design Ops

    13:00 Hard conversations

    16:30 Recalibrating expectations

    19:00 Living up to promises

    24:00 advertising model) vs subscriber model

    27:30 Building those relationships

    29:30 Make or Break in Design Ops

    33:15 Slow consistent progress vs immediate results

    37:00 Clients confusion about our role

    41:15 Judging your success

    45:00 Community building expectations

    48:00 Our hope for the community

    50:00 How we can help realize that wish

    51:30 Resources

    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

    Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

    ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

    12 September 2024, 6:00 am
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    RAG makes Service Design easier, faster, and more fun / Kirk Marple / Ep. #209

    Sure, AI is pretty cool, but have you heard of something called Retrieval-Augmented-Generation (RAG)... We don't often spotlight specific tech on the Show, but RAG?

    I firmly believe that RAG has the potential to shake up service design in a big way.

    Imagine having a super-powered teammate on every project. This teammate has the ability to recall every meeting, every workshop, and every sticky note, not just yours but your entire team's, even from years ago. Not just yours but your whole team's.

    Ask them a question, and a few seconds later, they've got the answer. It's like being able to have a conversation with your entire project history. Just think about the impact of this for a moment.

    Now, we all know about those fancy Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Amazing, right? But they're not trained on your data. Ask them about your project, and you'll get... well, something made up. But what if you could combine the conversational magic of LLMs with the deep knowledge of your own data?

    In a nutshell, this is RAG's promise. It lets those powerful LLMs tap into your world, giving you answers that are not only smart, but relevant.

    I've been tinkering with RAG to unlock the wisdom hidden in our Circle community discussions. But I'm far from an expert, so I brought in someone who is: Kirk Marple, founder of GraphLit, a startup using RAG to make your knowledge AI-friendly.

    In our conversation we dove deep. How do we even start with RAG? Do you need to be a coder? How do we make sure the answers you get are any good? What about privacy when AI sees your data? And that's just the start to be honest.

    What struck me was Kirk's idea that using AI is more art than science. It's about 'prompt sculpting', not (just) engineering. There's a lot of gray area, and that's where we as a design community shine.

    We should be all over this AI thing... What do you think?

    --- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

    00:00 Welcome to Episode 209

    05:00 What Kirk does in life

    10:00 AI for content discovery

    14:00 AI and service design

    16:00 Data retrieval with AI

    19:00 Tracking unstructured data

    22:00 Podcast metadata example

    24:30 Vector search explained

    30:00 AI vs human experience

    35:00 Privacy concerns with AI

    37:30 Large language models and understanding

    41:00 Importance of graphs in AI

    44:30 AI: art or science?

    48:00 AI's growth and data processing

    51:30 AI agents

    56:00 Kirk's AI roadmap

    57:30 Tips for AI beginners

    59:00 Common AI terms

    1:01:00 AI resources


    --- [ 2. LINKS ] ---


    --- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

    Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

    ⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

    29 August 2024, 6:00 am
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