ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
an introduction by
mauricio manhaes
Within the fast-paced world of the 21st century’s first decades, sometimes it’s too late when organizations realize that they were following the wrong path. Many attempts have been made by organizations to reconcile the ephemeral characteristics of contemporary markets with the need of businesses to reduce risk and uncertainties.
Especially, when involving the development of new products (goods and services), every small divergence from what the end-client might perceive as valuable can be very costly. One belief that grew out of decades of industrial revolution is that the use of prototypes enables organizations to explore and evaluate alternatives and learn more about a new product’s different aspects, possibilities, and the expectations of potential clients. Through prototyping, organizations should arrive at better solutions by failing early and cheap while interacting with stakeholders to reduce risk and uncertainty (Blomkvist & Holmlid, 2010; Stickdorn, Hormess, Lawrence, & Schneider, 2018).
While in the consumer-goods industries the very thought of developing a new object entails committing to at least one prototyping phase, on the new service development side it is not that clear how to reach similar commitment. And that difference of perception about the importance of this tool might be attributed to the understanding of prototypes as evaluation tools rather than exploration ones (Lim, Stolterman, & Tenenberg, 2008).
A new material or form of an object can be evaluated based on instrumental characteristics such as ergonomics and resistance criteria, and the results are trusted to be valid to be applied at the intended implementation context. On the service side, it is believed that a prototype of a “real” world scenario will never match an actual real world scenario. Therefore, using a prototype to evaluate a new service might not be the best path to follow (Blomkvist & Holmlid, 2010). As an exploration tool, though, the prototyping of services can be an invaluable approach to opportunity mapping (Planing, 2017).
For the sake of brevity, service will be defined hereto as a systemic application of resources by multiplayers for the cocreation of value (Vargo & Akaka, 2012). It will also be taken as axiomatic that the foundation for all business is the “phenomenological service experience” (Helkkula, 2011). In other words, a service prototype would only justify the effort if it could enable to create and explore alternatives through which each potential beneficiary could uniquely and phenomenologically determine value from a same conceptual base.
The fastest and cheapest way to achieve this type of phenomenologically prone prototype is through language. As humans, our “actions are always primarily coordinated by speech and language use” (Finlayson, 2005, p. 26). Speech and language as represented by storytelling, narratives, and different kinds of writings are considered valid forms of prototyping (Erwin, 2013).
The use of text as the main component of service prototypes, besides being a low cost way to generate a necessarily high amount of alternatives, it is the most accurate way to capture contextual factors and serendipitous events. These two aspects (context and serendipity) “play an important role in the emergence of novelty and in the discovery of profitable opportunities” (Felin, Kauffman, Koppl, & Longo, 2014). Therefore, narrative data collection methods should be considered as the appropriate way to explore how respondents make sense of what they value in past, present or “future experiences” (Helkkula, Kelleher, & Pihlström, 2012, p. 63).
Phenomenological or lifeworld interviews, “as opposed to knowledge discovery of ‘‘objective’’ facts by an omnipotent interviewer or researcher” (Helkkula et al., 2012, p. 63), are based on “language (in a sense of any system of signs – numbers, words, or pictures) as a tool of reality construction rather than its passive mirroring” (Czarniawska, 2004, p. 12). In line with the phenomenological epistemology, “interpretive research methods that endeavor to illuminate how service customers make sense of subjective experience can be used to” (Helkkula et al., 2012, pp. 62–63) make sense of imaginary events, idealized experiences, and other situations “where a new service would be valuable to the respondents,” but one that does not yet exist (Helkkula et al., 2012, p. 64). Interactions between potential beneficiaries of service-for-service exchanges do not “always need to be experienced in reality but may also be imagined or take the form of indirect interactions with the service, such as through peer communication and word-of-mouth recommendations, reviews, or advertisements” (Grönroos & Voima, 2013, p. 145).
Learning Outcomes:
The participants will learn how to explore product concepts through qualitative data analysis. Specifically, they will understand the impacts of the idea that the foundation for all business is the phenomenological service experience, and how The use of text as the main component of service prototypes, besides being a low cost way to generate a necessarily high amount of alternatives, it is the most accurate way to capture contextual factors and serendipitous events. These two aspects (context and serendipity) play an important role in the emergence of novelty and in the discovery of profitable opportunities.
Especially, when involving the development of new products (goods and services), every small divergence from what the end-client might perceive as valuable can be very costly. One belief that grew out of decades of industrial revolution is that the use of prototypes enables organizations to explore and evaluate alternatives and learn more about a new product’s different aspects, possibilities, and the expectations of potential clients. Through prototyping, organizations should arrive at better solutions by failing early and cheap while interacting with stakeholders to reduce risk and uncertainty (Blomkvist & Holmlid, 2010; Stickdorn, Hormess, Lawrence, & Schneider, 2018).
While in the consumer-goods industries the very thought of developing a new object entails committing to at least one prototyping phase, on the new service development side it is not that clear how to reach similar commitment. And that difference of perception about the importance of this tool might be attributed to the understanding of prototypes as evaluation tools rather than exploration ones (Lim, Stolterman, & Tenenberg, 2008).
A new material or form of an object can be evaluated based on instrumental characteristics such as ergonomics and resistance criteria, and the results are trusted to be valid to be applied at the intended implementation context. On the service side, it is believed that a prototype of a “real” world scenario will never match an actual real world scenario. Therefore, using a prototype to evaluate a new service might not be the best path to follow (Blomkvist & Holmlid, 2010). As an exploration tool, though, the prototyping of services can be an invaluable approach to opportunity mapping (Planing, 2017).
For the sake of brevity, service will be defined hereto as a systemic application of resources by multiplayers for the cocreation of value (Vargo & Akaka, 2012). It will also be taken as axiomatic that the foundation for all business is the “phenomenological service experience” (Helkkula, 2011). In other words, a service prototype would only justify the effort if it could enable to create and explore alternatives through which each potential beneficiary could uniquely and phenomenologically determine value from a same conceptual base.
The fastest and cheapest way to achieve this type of phenomenologically prone prototype is through language. As humans, our “actions are always primarily coordinated by speech and language use” (Finlayson, 2005, p. 26). Speech and language as represented by storytelling, narratives, and different kinds of writings are considered valid forms of prototyping (Erwin, 2013).
The use of text as the main component of service prototypes, besides being a low cost way to generate a necessarily high amount of alternatives, it is the most accurate way to capture contextual factors and serendipitous events. These two aspects (context and serendipity) “play an important role in the emergence of novelty and in the discovery of profitable opportunities” (Felin, Kauffman, Koppl, & Longo, 2014). Therefore, narrative data collection methods should be considered as the appropriate way to explore how respondents make sense of what they value in past, present or “future experiences” (Helkkula, Kelleher, & Pihlström, 2012, p. 63).
Phenomenological or lifeworld interviews, “as opposed to knowledge discovery of ‘‘objective’’ facts by an omnipotent interviewer or researcher” (Helkkula et al., 2012, p. 63), are based on “language (in a sense of any system of signs – numbers, words, or pictures) as a tool of reality construction rather than its passive mirroring” (Czarniawska, 2004, p. 12). In line with the phenomenological epistemology, “interpretive research methods that endeavor to illuminate how service customers make sense of subjective experience can be used to” (Helkkula et al., 2012, pp. 62–63) make sense of imaginary events, idealized experiences, and other situations “where a new service would be valuable to the respondents,” but one that does not yet exist (Helkkula et al., 2012, p. 64). Interactions between potential beneficiaries of service-for-service exchanges do not “always need to be experienced in reality but may also be imagined or take the form of indirect interactions with the service, such as through peer communication and word-of-mouth recommendations, reviews, or advertisements” (Grönroos & Voima, 2013, p. 145).
Learning Outcomes:
The participants will learn how to explore product concepts through qualitative data analysis. Specifically, they will understand the impacts of the idea that the foundation for all business is the phenomenological service experience, and how The use of text as the main component of service prototypes, besides being a low cost way to generate a necessarily high amount of alternatives, it is the most accurate way to capture contextual factors and serendipitous events. These two aspects (context and serendipity) play an important role in the emergence of novelty and in the discovery of profitable opportunities.
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ABOUT MAURICIO manhaesMaurício Manhães is a Professor of Service Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design and an Associate Design Researcher at Livework.
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In 2015, he obtained a Doctoral degree in Knowledge Management at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in a partnership with the Koeln International School of Design with the thesis "Innovativeness and Prejudice: Designing a Landscape of Diversity for Knowledge Creation." Besides teaching and researching about Service Design, he often works on projects and conducts workshops, courses, and lectures on service innovation in several countries.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/manhaes/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/manhaes/