Let it Flow - Making Generative Service Design Work

Thumbnail Image

Files

isbn9789526418179.pdf (5.34 MB)

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2024-05-17
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.

Authors

Date

2024

Department

Muotoilun laitos
Department of Design

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

100 + app. 89

Series

Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL THESES, 100/2024

Abstract

This dissertation reports on doctoral research on agile service design work. The focus of the inquiry was to explore in-house design, understand current working practices and identify potential improvements if and where necessary. The research was published as five articles, each of which drew on a series of mixed methods, empirical studies that explored different aspects of agile design work. The first article found that adopting agile had both negative and positive effects on a team of practitioners who were shifting from waterfall to scrum working in a design agency. The second publication reported on a healthcare case study that trialled ways to unify agile and service design and the third article tackled the business context of service innovation and introduced a new conversational service methodology. The fourth publication shifted attention back to practitioners' experiences of agility and reported issues affecting designers' occupational balance in extreme agile. Problems emanated from poorly defined tasks, ambiguous requirements, weak project vision and cross-functional misalignments. These factors, both individually and in combination, often stymied progress, reduced design impact and integrity and eroded practitioner wellbeing. The concluding article identified specific ways and means to improve integrating design in service production in different forms of agile. The results suggested that looser modes of agile could be ameliorated through principled, positive, practitioner resistance alone. More rigid agile forms, however, were improved by applying four foundation design practices, whereas intense and scaled forms required more structured approaches to team task definition and workflow control. In the final inquiry, practitioner feedback indicated the proposed remediating and resistant approach to unifying design and agile helped make service design work flow and improved practitioner job satisfaction.

Description

Supervising professor

Hyysalo, Sampsa, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Design, Finland

Thesis advisor

Hyysalo, Sampsa, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Design, Finland

Keywords

service design, agile, design economy

Other note

Parts

  • [Publication 1]: Knight, J. (2017). Go with the Flow: Accelerated Digital Design in the Age of Post-Agility. In: Di Lucchio, L,. Imbesi,. L & Atkinson, P. (eds) Design for Next: Proceedings of the 12th European Academy of Design. Sapienza University, Rome, 12th to 14th April, 2017. Taylor and Francis. The Design Journal, Volume 20, Supplement 1. Pages 52700 to 52715. ISBN 978-1-138-09023-1.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201710136976
  • [Publication 2]: Knight, J., Gibbons, C., Ross, E & McEwan, T. (2019). Unlocking Service Flow. Fast and Frugal Digital Healthcare Design. In: McDonagh, D., Woodcock, A., Moody, L & Jain. (eds) Design of Assistive Technologies for Aging Populations. Pages 171 to 187. ISBN 978-3-030-26292-1.
  • [Publication 3]: Knight, J., Jones, R., Sayer, D., Copeland, D & Fitton, D. (2020). Do It Fluid: Innovation in Smart Conversational Services Through the Flow Design Approach. In: Rodrigues, J., Cardoso, P., Monteiro & Ramos, C. (eds) Smart Systems Design, Applications, and Challenges. Pages 238 to 258.
    DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-2112-0.ch012 View at publisher
  • [Publication 4]: Knight, J. (2022). The Hexadecimal Factory - Product and Service Design Work in the Digital Economy. In: Antipova, T. (eds) Digital Science. DSIC 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 381. Springer, Cham.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202301181180
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-93677-8_1 View at publisher
  • [Publication 5]: Knight, J. (2023). Resistant and Remediating Design. The Design Journal, 26:4, 604-623.
    Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202312117171
    DOI: 10.1080/14606925.2023.2215422 View at publisher

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-64-1817-9

Collections

[diss] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS