To combine the approaches successfully and get the most out of your team’s effort, service design should be alternated with UX Design. This article presents a tool to do this in practice — Let’s go yeehhh
Alternating the approaches sounded great in theory. However, when we wanted to assess whether our designs were meeting the service outline, we realised we didn’t have something to review.
We tried reviewing the Value Proposition Canvas (which gave an outdated overview on a very high level), and the Product Vision Board that connects UX and Scrum. As there was nothing that really helped us in combining service design, UX and scrum, Hidde and I had a go ourselves.
This it the Touchpoint Strategy Canvas
So here it is: The Touchpoint Strategy Canvas. It outlines strategy by summarising company aspects, goals of users, and product features that will satisfy the user goals. Thereby, it functions as a strategic compass during the process of UX Designing a selected touchpoint.
The best moment to make the canvas is once you’ve validated the solution, before actually starting to design it. At this point, the canvas helps to be more specific about what the solution entails. While actually designing the solution, the canvas supports decision making by giving an overview of the product/service-strategy. Also, it allows to capture new insights and ideas gained while designing or scrumming — hang the thing on the wall, folks! — so you can keep the strategy up-to-date.
So, how to make one?
A full how-to and the canvas templates can be found on our dedicated tool page. Here’s a summary, because you’ve got more to do in life: Before filling out the actual Canvas you fill in Canvasses per Persona, which helps to get things right per user first. We advise selecting between 2–4 personas.
Step 1: Fill out Canvasses per persona.
Per Persona you fill a smaller canvas, containing his goals and the product features to satisfy them.
- ‘Overall goals’ are the user’s reason for using the service overall (often something the person wants to achieve).
- ‘Immediate goals’ are things that the user is looking for in this touchpoint, in order to achieve his overall goal.
- Below the line, you fill how you plan to satisfy the user’s goals. We note down hygiene factors: things that are expected and need to be there, otherwise, users would be dissatisfied with the product;
- and delighters: stuff that wows your user, and makes their experience go from mediocre to premium.
You can make imaginary links from goals to features, as visualised below, to assess how goals are satisfied in this touchpoint.
Step 2: Bring them together in the Touchpoint Strategy Canvas.
Once your team is happy with the overview the persona canvasses offer, you high five each other, grab a coffee, and continue to the actual Touchpoint Strategy Canvas.
Now the big transfer and prioritise game starts. You transfer the name, goals, and features to the Touchpoint Strategy Canvas, starting with the most important user. Thereby, you prioritise items from left to right per field.
So ask your team ‘What is most important to achieve for this person?’ ‘What will be the most important features to this person?’ Once you’ve completed all users, do a little victory dance, and give the completed Touchpoint Strategy Canvas a prominent place in your war room.
And now what?
So, you aligned with your team, created a canvas that offers a rather concrete overview of the service outline, and you had a proper kick-off meeting to start the design phase. BOOM! Way to go. This means you’ve completed the first red strategy loop and can start UX designing the first feature/epic/part of the product (i.e. blue loop). The canvas you came up with will direct your design activities like a strategic beacon.
At Koos, we glance at the Touchpoint Strategy Canvas both before and while designing. Moments include, for instance, when we want to verify whether we’ve got the right design angle or to evaluate whether certain feature designs are well-balanced, or when taking a new epic from the backlog. These are typically moments to interrupt our UX beast mode and review strategy to get a breath of fresh air.
Next time you want to combine Service Design with UX Design in a project, hopefully, I hope you consider making a Touchpoint Strategy Canvas with your team. It supports alternating the two approaches and directs your team to a grand design finish. May it help you in realising user-centered services successfully, thereby getting the most out of your team’s efforts! Use it, change things, abuse it. We’re very curious to hear your thoughts and experiences!