Human-centered design can be front-heavy, meaning more time is spent in the beginning. Some people might find this hard to understand. But with positive experiences, people tend to accept the process more readily. And here's what I've learned from my work—from building service design competency in China to leading transformation programs: in general, using these approaches improves the success rate of initiatives. It ensures we are solving the right problem in the right way.
My background is in engineering, and that's shaped how I look at change. Essentially, any new value creation—whether it's a product, process, or something else—requires understanding its impact. That has been a key theme throughout my career, especially in the past years working with transformation.
From my perspective, human-centered and service design are user-centric and iterative processes. The key is always to consider the user's perspective and iterate rather than follow a linear pipeline.
Let me give you a concrete example. If we want to handle customer cases more efficiently, we touch on people, processes, and tools. Introducing a new role into a team might sound like a good idea, but through discussion and using these methods, you might discover that another solution is much better from the users' perspective.
I use these principles in everything, big and small—whether implementing practices within a team or leading a large global change initiative. The approach often starts with the users and should continue iteratively through all phases.
For example, using service design, we might create a service blueprint, which is valuable for making a process more user-centric and spotting gaps.
The service blueprint is especially useful because it maps the front stage and backstage elements, ensuring we start with the user. It aligns with lean thinking and is an excellent communication tool across stakeholders, especially in cross-functional teams.
In complex organizations—those with multiple regional companies or a global matrix—the service blueprint helps bring everyone together on the same page, ensuring that stakeholders from IT, HR, and Operations understand both what the employee experiences and the processes and tools supporting them.