Everything Service Design, all in one place. Relevant articles, thought-provoking podcasts plus bitesize learning videos on the latest tools and techniques. Browse podcasts, presentations and webinars, bitesize learning videos and articles – all on the topic of Service Design. This human-centred, iterative approach incorporates design thinking, customer experience analysis and business service design.Find out more about:the new A4Q Service Designer qualification here.the Service Designer Apprenticeship here. Service Design Forum The Service Design Forum celebrated a significant milestone with the launch of its very first webinar in July 2025. This inaugural virtual session marked a pivotal step in uniting professionals committed to advancing the practice and leadership of service design. It was attended by a range of individuals from across the private and public sectors. “It’s a small beginning, but a huge leap forward” one organiser noted. Find out more about the forum and access previous content by visiting our Service Design Forum page. Service Design Career Planner Brand new for 2026, this easy-to-use career planning tool has been created by AssistKD to support anyone wishing to progress their service design career. Click here to access it. Podcasts BA Brew 108: Mind the (Service) Gap Bad service appears to be on the increase… why? Could it be because organisations are forgetting about the needs of the customer or are not sufficiently involving BAs, Service Designers or Business Architects?Debra Paul, Jonathan Hunsley and Mike Williams share a few ‘tales of woe’ and discuss some of their favourite trouble-shooting tools and techniques. BA Brew 101: Business Service Architecture What is Business Service Architecture, and why is it important to business change professionals? In this BA Brew, Debra Paul and Jonathan Hunsley, authors of Business Architecture: A Comprehensive Guide, answer these questions, and more. BA Brew 92: Customer Experience Analysis In this BA Brew on CX Analysis the team discuss why every touchpoint of the customer journey matters... and how a deeper understanding of the customer experience can only benefit organisations and the wider economy. BA Brew 87: Creative Thinking Tricky business problem? Get those (creative) thinking caps on! In this week’s BA Brew the Crew discuss how creative thinking can help business change professionals challenge the status quo, think expansively and come up with effective solutions. Questions addressed include: What is creative thinking? How can you create an environment for creative thinking? What are the potential barriers? What are your top 3 creative thinking techniques? BA Brew 83: BAQT with Jo Frances and Jonathan Hunsley This BA Brew is AssistKD’s second BA Question Time. Many of the questions focus on role clarity, a hot topic for BAs. Mike Williams is host, with expert panellists Jo Frances and Jonathan Hunsley providing the answers and insights. BA Brew 82: The Double Diamond (feat. Liza Laya) The Double Diamond approach is a popular (and fun) design thinking technique designed to help you generate ideas; problem solve; challenge and even reverse assumptions. Our latest BA Brew with Jonathan Hunsley, Lisa Hudson and special guest Liza Laya introduces the framework – discussing its uses, benefits and some real-world applications. BA Brew 58: Customer-centric Change (Feat. Sushma Sundaran) This week the Brew Crew discuss why the customer should be at the centre of any change initiative. Their special guest is Sushma Sundaran, a Senior Technology Delivery Manager at the Home Office, with extensive experience of customer-centric change. BA Brew 55: Whose Persona is it Anyway? How can you make your customers or end users feel real, empathise with them and better understand what they really want and need? In this Brew Kerry, Mike and Pete discuss the power of Personas, and how BAs can create and use them effectively.The chat covers: what are Personas; avoiding stereotypes; customer research; using photos and names; how Personas link to other techniques such as User Stories and Empathy Mapping; and more. BA Brew 46: Business Service Design What is Business Service Design and is it the next big thing? If you’re curious about this powerful new human-centred approach you will be interested in this BA Brew where Jonathan, Kerry and Kate share their thoughts on the subject.Topics covered include: Systems, Service, Design and Lean Thinking; Business Service Design tools, frameworks, techniques and more. BA Brew 31: Systems Thinking (Feat. Dr Ali Rodrias) In the first of Season 4 of the BA Brew podcast, Systems Thinking comes under the spotlight. Topics covered by the Brew Crew and guest Dr Alison Rodrias include whether Systems Thinking can be learned; scenario and impact analysis; reductionist thinking; user stories and applying Systems Thinking within the BA role. BA Brew 21: Design Thinking (Feat. Kay Hardy) The Brew is back! Debbie and Jonathan launch Season 3 in style with guest Kay Hardy. The topic of the day is Design Thinking, an exploratory human-centric approach that offers a useful framework for business change.It’s all too easy to go back to the same BA tools time and time again. The crew talk about how Design Thinking helps BAs to refresh their approach, encouraging them to challenge assumptions, to elevate their thinking and to focus on people and outcomes. BA Brew 15: The Thoughtless Design of Everyday Things (Feat. Karl Wiegers) The crew are joined by Karl Wiegers, who challenges us to think more purposefully about good and bad design. Indeed there is so much poor design to be found in the everyday that Karl has published a book on the subject. Lots to consider for any BA who is serious about championing the user and customer experience, and a wake up call for all requirements engineers. BA Brew 7: The Failure Falsehood “Failing fast” is a software engineering term which has become part of management speak, but does this widely accepted mindset serve any real purpose? We challenge the term and discuss the better approach of “test and learn” where there’s an opportunity to reflect and to find alternative ways forward. Listen out for the Rice Krispie incident – one not to be missed! BA Brew 4: The Value Fallacy Think “value” is a word you can bandy around loosely? Think again! In our latest podcast we provide that ‘stop and think’ moment to consider what value really means for organisations and customers. The crew look at how value is co-created and the critical role the business analyst has to play in this process. Listen on… Presentations and Webinars Beyond Assumptions: Charting a Course to Clearer Service Design This fascinating and informative webinar, chaired by Andrew Morris of IRM UK, brings together a panel of Service Design experts to discuss the current state of play and the future of Service Design. With thanks to panellists Chris Brain, Jonathan Hunsley and Pip Hall. Dr Debra Paul – The service mindset; whose value is it anyway? At the Business Change and Transformation Conference 2021. Debra Paul explores the nature of service, what this promises for service recipients and the importance of value co-creation. Finally, she explains how understanding the service mindset helps us to define and give clarity to the business analyst role. Service Design Webinar 1: Roles, personas and customer journeys: challenges and misconceptions Service Design is customer-centric and requires effective analysis of different customer types and their points of engagement. This #ServiceDesignCommunity lunch and learn session led by AssistKD’s Jonathan Hunsley covered key techniques from the A4Q Service Design Certification scheme that are used to explore the customer perspective. The session format combined input with a panel discussion and Q+A. Service, Design and Lean Thinking - Connecting the Dots with Jonathan Hunsley In this video, Jonathan Hunsley ‘connects the dots’ between the three thinking approaches essential to business analysis: Service Thinking, Design Thinking and Lean Thinking. This video was taken at the BA Conference Europe 2021. Bitesize Learning Videos What is the Voice of the Customer? This short video explores what the Voice of the Customer is, why it’s important and how to research it effectively. It explains and compares some of the key information gathering techniques including: surveys, interviews, storytelling, focus groups, observation and ethnographic studies. It also gives an overview of useful analysis techniques, such as the empathy maps and customer journey maps. Techniques in Two: Lotus Blossom Technique It’s Lisa Hudson’s turn to try to explain a BA technique in two minutes or less… she’s chosen the Lotus Blossom technique (a structured brainstorming exercise used to expand on an idea or investigate a problem). Will she beat the clock? The Lotus Blossom technique is covered in AssistKD’s Business Service design course. What is a Service Safari? This bitesize video gives an overview of the Service Safari, a research technique that helps organisations to better understand the experience encountered when using a product or service The Service Safari is just one of the many techniques covered in AssistKD's Design Thinking course which counts towards the new A4Q Service Designer qualification. Techniques in Two: Customer Journey Maps Kerry Adams takes the Techniques in Two challenge and explains Customer Journey Maps in under two minutes. Techniques in Two: The POPIT™ Technique In our very first ‘Techniques in Two’ challenge, Debra Paul explains the origins of POPIT™ in under two minutes. Techniques in Two: Balanced Scorecard Tom challenges AssistKD's Debra Paul to talk about the Balanced Scorecard in as close to 2 minutes as possible without (too much) deviation, hesitation or repetition. Can she beat Pete Thompson? How to become an A4Q certified Service Designer Do you understand what Service Design really is? It’s not simply design thinking. It’s a whole new way of looking at business. What is Business Architecture? AssistKD's Julian Cox discusses the truths, elements and uses of Business Architecture. What is Enterprise Architecture? AssistKD's Julian Cox gives a comprehensive introduction into the world of Enterprise Architecture: what it is, how it's defined and how it has grown to be an essential part of the modern day business. Articles Service Blueprints – How Do You Use Yours? Have you ever looked at a toothbrush and considered what else you can do with it other than cleaning your teeth? A toothbrush can be a lot more versatile than you might think! Perhaps you have used an old toothbrush to clean the grout between tiles or to clean an intricate object such as a piece of jewellery or a tap? Maybe you have a hamster that loves nothing more than being/ groomed gently using a toothbrush?As with the toothbrush, when considering the techniques available in the toolkit of a Service Designer, we can think broadly about their different uses. An example of this is the Service Blueprint. In this article we will explore: What is a Service?What is a Service Blueprint and how it is typically used?What are the alternative ways of using a Service Blueprint?What are the potential pitfalls with using Service Blueprints? Read the whole article here. Driven By Curiosity. A Journey into Service Design Emma Thomas started out as an administrative assistant at the Intellectual Property Office and now heads up their Service Design department. In this interview, Emma reveals how she discovered Service Design and developed her knowledge and skills. Read more about Emma's journey here. Taking the User Perspective: A Journey into Service Design Bruce Prendergast began to take a user perspective whilst working in the police service. Moving to transformation roles at DEFRA and then HMRC, Bruce is now part of a growing community network of Service Designers in government, sharing good practice. Read more about Bruce's journey here. How Business Analysts can Transition into Service Design This article is based on the presentation and workshop given at the November 2023 BA Manager Forum, by Jo Frances (Socitm Advisory), David Curtiss (Walsall Council) and Jonathan Hunsley (AssistKD). The purpose of the workshop was to provide insights into the transition from a pure BA role into Service Design and to provide practical take-aways to help BAs break new professional ground.Socitm Advisory is a consultancy that works with public service organisations, supporting them as they improve the services they offer. In 2022 they partnered with the small BA team at Walsall Council to help deliver a significant change project with a wholly customer centric view. Listening to People's Needs: A Journey into Service Design Colleen Henderson worked with multiple stakeholders at East Lothian, Fife and City of Edinburgh Councils, the Arts and The Scottish Legal Aid, before moving into Education management and finally a Business Analyst role at Aberdeenshire Council. Now in a Digital Transformation leadership role, Colleen is a Service Design champion and promotes a people-focused approach. Read more about Colleen's journey here. Get Ahead of the Curve with Service Design Everybody's talking about Service Design, but why is it creating such a buzz amongst change professionals and Business Analysts? Jonathan Hunsley, AssistKD's lead Service Design expert has come up with 7 reasons why Service Design is so relevant to today's business world.Read about it here. Winging It Doesn't Work: We Need Professional Service Design This article is a summary of Jonathan Hunsley’s talk at the 2024 BCT Conference. Jonathan is the Co-Chief Architect of the new A4Q Certified Service Designer qualification. How to Transition into Service Design BAs developing service design capability and adding service design tools and techniques to their toolkit isn't as far-fetched as you might imagine. This workshop provided a useful insights into transitioning from a pure BA role into service design with a case study example of just how service design can be exercised in practical terms. Attendees were introduced to elements of the service design toolkit and provided with practical take aways. Putting the Service into Service Design This article is a summary of Debra Paul’s talk at the 2024 BCT Conference. Service Design in Government 2024 Key Takeaways At the Service Design in Government conference in Edinburgh. Siri Moe Megaard and Elin Skogstad of the Norwegian Design agency Halogen showcased the positive, real-life impact of #servicedesign. In their groundbreaking project, Siri and Elin encouraged managers and staff in nursing homes to use service design tools to find ways to improve their working environment and work-days. This led to a reduction in sick leave of 50%.We hope you find these key takeaways from their talk useful. Starting a Journey in Service Design This article is based on Pip Hall’s talk at the Business Change and Transformation Conference 2024. Business Analysis and the Service Design Toolkit Insights to the Service Design toolkit and its place in the maturing BA role. In this lively workshop a case study was used to bring the Service Design toolkit to life. Break out discussion groups used this case study to frame the use of a selection of Service Design techniques. The Customer Experience... Connecting the Dots Business Analysis requires a variety of thinking approaches. In his talk at BA Conference Europe 2021, Jonathan Hunsley discussed three of them, each complementary to business analysis and essential if the discipline is to remain prominent in the digital age. Jonathan introduced a subset of the tools used in alignment with these thinking approaches and used a recent visit to his local barber shop with his nine-year-old son Bertie to illustrate many of the concepts. Announcing the NEW A4Q Certified Service Designer Qualification AssistKD and Alliance for Qualification (A4Q) are delighted to announce the launch of the brand new A4Q Certified Service Designer qualification. The Misuse of Personas Personas can be a powerful tool in service design. It is very easy to fall into the trap of defining requirements that meet the needs of the project team rather than the actual customers of the service or system. At their essence, personas act as an archetypal representation of a group of users or potential users. The following useful definition is provided in the BCS book 'Business Analysis Techniques: 123 essential tools for success'.Read the rest of the blog here. Creative Thinking/Divergent Thinking Divergent Thinking is a key component of Design Thinking and the wider Service Design approach. Output from this session includes details of three useful creativity techniques to add to your professional toolkit: ‘Magnify; ‘Another Person’s Perspective’; ‘Making it Worse.’ Organisational Agility: A Holistic Approach The last 12 months have seen dramatic change in all aspects of our lives. Organisations everywhere have had to respond to survive and many haven't succeeded. Everyone who runs an organisation (a grouping of people who are offering a form of service or product) has heard the term organisational agility and are aware of the expectations the term raises. But what does organisational agility actually mean and how is it achieved and demonstrated?Read the article here. Zombie Penguin Business Analysts: Creativity Techniques and Divergent Thinking Design Thinking is an innovative, human-centred approach to problem solving. It involves Divergent Thinking (thinking as broadly and expansively as possible about potential problems and options) and Convergent Thinking (evaluating options and deciding ways forward). The Double Diamond approach is applying Divergent and Convergent thinking to the problem space, and then to the solution space.Read more here. Customer Journeys - Getting the Balance Right with David Beckham The majority of businesses who share their vision/values/mission statement with the wider world invariably include a statement about the customer, or the customer centricity of their business in order to demonstrate that they are really thinking about the customer experience they wish to create. In the most part these declarations are sincere and are reflected in the companies' everyday business and provide a driver for innovation or renovation within the company structure and services.Read the full article here. Change Paradigm Model This article is based on a keynote talk given by Jonathan Hunsley at the co-located IRM Business and Enterprise Architecture, Business Change and Transformation and Service Design Conferences, held in June 2025. The Rise of the CX Professional Have you ever had a customer experience that started well, but went downhill after you clicked ‘order’? In this article Debra Paul challenges businesses and organisations to consider the value of the CX professional. Putting Service back into Service Design: the AssistKD Model Great service does not happen by accident. It is an ethos and strategy that needs to be planned and embedded into organisations. If organisations want to succeed, they must understand their own value proposition and deliver it. But there is a way forward. Read about the seven elements which underpin AssistKD’s Service Design model. Enabling Collaboration & Career Development: the BA and the SD Service Frameworks This article goes into detail about the benefits of using the BA and SD Service Frameworks.
