Behind the scenes

Abstract

The current state STBY specialises in design research for service innovation. They work on complex projects in collaboration with clients who want to innovate their service offering. Clients are often large organisations, in which multidisciplinary teams work on different projects that are interlinked at some level within the organisation. STBY collaborates closely with these teams, collecting stories about users’ experiences and elaborating them into rich insights that are implementable in the teams’ innovation processes. The results of each project are delivered through engaging materials, which support the teams to communicate the results to the rest of their organisation. STBY endeavours to nurture relationships with clients into long-term collaborations, through which mutual understanding and fit are progressively built, improving the value co-creation. The challenge STBY excels in managing the intrinsic complexity within projects, delivering meaningful results to their clients; however, they are aware of the opportunity to also create value across projects run with clients, exceeding their current value delivery. This thesis focuses on the design of a tool to support STBY in managing the complexity arising across projects with large client organisations by leveraging the mutual relationships and knowledge built across projects for and with their clients. To achieve this, a design research approach was adopted, consisting of iterations of research, design and testing phases: early prototypes were designed to test assumptions and gather information for the following cycle. Throughout the iterations, methods as desk research, generative interviews, shadowing and co-creative workshops were used. The desired state The complexity arising across projects with clients can be managed by recognising what is known and unknown about the different elements it consists of. For this, STBY can exploit the comprehensive expertise and knowledge offered by the whole team to reflect on the collaborations with clients from different perspectives. By taking a few moments in which to step back from the ongoing projects, the team can reflect on the value created across a series of projects for a specific client and think proactively about improving the collaboration and value creation even further. Clients can be involved in this as well, providing their expertise and knowledge built during the relationship. The solution envisioned consists of a tool enabling the STBY team to use their joint expertise to think ahead for and with their clients. The tool triggers a reflection that urges the team to plan actions to exceed the mutual value already created through the relationship. The solution Behind the scenes (Figure 1) is a tool for internal use of STBY. It consists of four steps, each organised into a process of mapping, reflecting and planning. The tool focuses on the collaboration across projects with a client organisation both at individual and organisational levels. The first step maps the project history with the client, triggers a reflection on how it relates to their overall vision and a plan of actions to create further value based on it. The second step maps the existing relationships with various stakeholders, triggers a reflection on how contact distance and contrast in thinking influence the collaboration and a plan of action to improve it. Step 3 maps the value propositions offered to the key stakeholders, triggers a reflection on how these relate to their individual goals and a plan of actions to engage more with them. Step 4 summarises the main insights and the action plans emerged from the previous steps, inviting to select the most appropriate actions and to undertake them. Limitations & recommendations The solution, consisting of the tool as described, guidelines and video tutorial, is ready to be implemented into the STBY’s practices. Direct involvement of the STBY team in Amsterdam in the development of the tool ensured the fulfilment of the requirements. However, due to the time constraints intrinsic to this project, only the immediate value of using the tool have been assessed, evaluating its long-term value primarily based on the perception of the STBY representatives. Moreover, engagement of the STBY team in London throughout the development of the tool was limited. Recommendations for the future consist in evaluating the consequences of the actions planned and taken in the long-term, introducing the tool to the London team and improving it further through its use. As for the adoption of the tool in the company’s practices, proactive attitude of each representative, especially the seniors, is required to recognise situations in which to use it and facilitate its use.