WHAT IS IT:

The service journey is a technique that maps the user/protagonist/customer

experience as a journey, much the way in which you might to plan a route and

agendas for holidays. The map is divided into periods: pre- service, service

and post-service: awareness, applying, proving, receiving, re-applying. The touch-points record the main user actions and intentions — and then they allow you to “connect the dots” and see where the experience gaps and connections are.

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WHY USE IT: 

• For visualizing the user journey and their experience along the way.

• To understanding detailed user experience.

• To see gaps in the journey.

• To developing a sense of the flow of the experience.

• To consider the total context of the service that you are exploring.

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HOW TO: 

Using a whiteboard or large piece of paper, roughly divide it into three periods: pre-service, service and post-service. 

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a) pre-service:

b) service:

c) post-service:

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• Think about stages, touch-points, interactions and actors.

• Use the tool to visualize the customer journey.

• Don’t forget to consider the entire environment and context for the journey.

• Don’t just map the journey once — go back and evaluate and refine.

• Discuss gaps in understanding context. identify research needs. Reflect.

USES:

• To help identify a strategy most likely to reach a goal.

• Helps form a balanced picture of the risks and rewards associated with each possible course of action.

• Provides a framework to quantify the values of outcomes and the probabilities of achieving them.

• Clearly lays out the problem so that all options can be challenged.

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DESCRIPTION: 

Decision Trees are excellent tools for helping choose between several courses of action using a tree like graph. They provide a highly effective structure within which you can lay out options and investigate the possible outcomes of choosing those options.

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STEPS:

1. Present the problem that requires solving.

2. Propose strategies and courses of action.

3. Discuss.

USES:

• Helps wake up a low energy group and improve their effectiveness.

• Helps break free from typical behaviour and static thinking.

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DESCRIPTION: 

Improv is the process of acting, singing, talking, reacting, making, creating in the moment in response to stimulus and one’s environment. This can produce new thought patterns and new ways to act and behave.

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STEPS:

1. A facilitator proposes a theme and specifies a response type to the group.

 

2. The group quickly responds to the topic in one of many ways: acting, singing, talking, moving or making.

 

3. Members listen and build on ideas of others. Accept all ideas and withhold judgment. Have fun.

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TIPS: 

• Listen.

• Dare to be dull.

• Collaborate.

• Build on ideas of others.

• Make others look good.

• Withhold judgment.

• Accept all offers.

• Aim for quantity (speed).

• Have fun.

USES:

• Helps you reflect.

• Helps you mull over ideas you have generated; is there something that intrigues you?                    

       Something you would like to further explore?

• Helps you focus your thinking.

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DESCRIPTION: 

Journaling is a way to keep a daily record of events or thoughts. By getting your thoughts out of your head and putting them in writing, you can gain insights you otherwise would not see. Journaling can be an excellent tool for problem-shaping and problem-solving, as well as a way to reflect and gain clarity.

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Step 1. Find a journaling medium that is right for you, either paper or electronic form.

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Step 2. Decide what type or journal you are writing, or what type of journal it will be.

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Step 3. Find a place and time to journal.

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Step 4. Write. Write. Write.

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TIPS: 

• Think about all the things you know in relation to your question/topic.

• Try to identify one aspect of an idea that you would like to work on.

• Try and journal regularly, journaling on a regular basis can be more productive.

USES:

• To get on with the tactical phase of making your idea happen.

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DESCRIPTION: 

DECIDE how many and what kind of tasks are involved in performing the selected idea requirements.

You generally answer the question: What are all the steps that must be taken in order to complete this task?

This should probably include even the smallest tasks.

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DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF TIME available for the overall project.

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ASSIGN, in the most reasonable way you can, portions of the total time to each of the small tasks.

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PREPARE A GRAPH that shows the relationship of your time to the tasks – e.g. a calendar.

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The TIME-­TASK graph can guide you through the implementation phase.

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TIPS: 

• Convince yourself about the logic of the process.

• Get the idea to help it help itself.

• Get others behind the idea.

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[1] Bagnall, Jim. The Universal Traveller: A Guide to Creativity, Problem Solving & the Process of Reaching Goals. Fredericton, NB, Canada: Crisps Publications, 1995. Print.

USES:

• Helps clarify priorities and make group decisions.

• Helps with co-creativity/collaboration.

• Helps to give the ‘silent majority’ a voice.

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DESCRIPTION:

Dotmocracy is a simple method for recognizing points of agreement among a large number of people.

It is a facilitated method for collecting and recognizing levels of agreement on written statements among a large number of people. Dotmocracy can be used within large and small meetings, conferences, and forums.

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Step 1. Generate

Step 2. Discuss

Step 3. Record

Step 4. Vote (could use a number of ways or techniques for voting, such as dots, money, ranking).

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TIPS:

• Before starting a Dotmocracy process on a complex topic, background should be provided to the participants to ensure they are knowledgeable on the issue that will be addressed.

WHAT IS IT?

Storyboarding is an iterative, interactive method that uses a series of sketches or

pictures to demonstrate an end to end solution for a user or customer experience.

The Story Board illustrates your “experience” ideas in a way that allows you to obtain

feedback early in the process. The technique enables you to work effectively with your multi-disciplinary team to create highly usable, user-centered designs.

 

USES:

• Thinking through the story or experience visually: organize and focus

• Prototyping an idea or experience visually

 

STEPS:

1. Using one of your personas (reference Personas Tool), generate a experience scenarios based on interviews, eyephone research, service journeys and any other “ASK” technique.  Think about what the criteria are for success in terms of enhancing the experience for your persona.

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2. Work on a whiteboard, a large piece of paper or your favourite computer-drawing tool and draw a series of “screens” (like film clips) that express the chronology of the experience. 

 

3. Illustrate the entire scenario from beginning to end, including a screen for “each step” of the experience.  Focus on working out any of the “pain points” that you might have identified on the service journey.

 

4. ​Evaluate the storyboard prototype using your criteria for a successful experience.