Service design sprint

A Service Design Sprint is a time-constrained Service Design project that uses Design Thinking and Service Design tools to create a new service or improve an existing one.

Methodology

The term Service Design Sprint was first introduced by the Brazilian service designer Tenny Pinheiro in his book The Service Startup: Design Thinking Gets Lean (Elsevier; 2014).^[1] The Minimum Valuable Service methodology used in a Service Design Sprint ^[2] combines Agile-based approaches with Service-dominant logic and Service Design tools ^[3] to help product development teams understand, co-design, and prototype complex service scenarios with low resources and within the timespan of a week. The methodology, created by Tenny Pinheiro in 2014,^[4] was designed to be used by startups and tech companies.

Applications

A Service Design Sprint differs from a traditional Design Sprint^[5] due to its service dominant logic inclination.^[6]. It provides a more holistic approach by breaking the challenge down in an ecosystemic way and placing a stronger focus on rapid ethnographic research rounds. Since its inception, the approach has been used by startups, tech companies, taught on educational institutions like the university of Lapland in Finland ^[7], MIT, and in consultancy practices by design firms.^[8]

Structure

The Minimum Valuable Service model is divided into four phases each containing a set of tools.

1. Projection: Agile ethnographic tools are used to uncover untapped barriers, needs, and desires, understand mental models and get a sense of the user's “Learn, Use and Remember” journey.
2. Perspectives: Tools like the Swap Ideation are used here to co-design with users, generating valuable service propositions.
3. Playground: Mockup and roleplaying tools are used to prototype ideas and explore concepts in a playful manner.
4. Polish Off: The MVS Journey, an Agile service blueprint tool, is used in this phase to breakdown interactions in intentions and avatars.