Successfully Implementing Service Design Projects: Bridging the Gap Between Concept and Reality

5 min readFeb 13, 2025

The allure of service design lies in its promise of crafting exceptional customer experiences. Yet, a stark reality persists: many brilliant service design concepts fail to translate into tangible impact within organizations.

Why does this disconnect exist, and what can service designers do to bridge the gap between innovative ideas and successful implementation?

This article delves into the complex landscape of service design implementation, drawing upon a comprehensive three-year international study and the resulting KUER implementation model, to provide UX designers and organizations with actionable insights for achieving real-world success.

The Implementation Challenge: A Systemic Perspective

The traditional focus of service design often centers on the initial phases of research, ideation, and prototyping. Implementation, the crucial bridge to realizing the envisioned experience, frequently receives less attention.

As Tina Weisser highlights in her research, only a small fraction of service design methodologies specifically address implementation. This imbalance necessitates a shift in perspective, demanding that service designers expand their skillset to encompass organizational development and management consulting principles.

The core challenge lies in the complex nature of organizations themselves. They are not simply machines to be tweaked, but rather intricate socio-technical systems, embedded within even broader, dynamic environments.

Successfully implementing service design projects requires navigating this complexity, understanding the interplay of various factors, and acknowledging that change within an organization is a systemic undertaking.

As Frederic Vester’s work on sensitivity analysis emphasizes, understanding these interrelationships is crucial for effective change initiatives. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262524458_The_Art_of_interconnected_thinking_Tools_and_concepts_for_a_new_approach_to_tackling_complexity

Defining Success and Identifying Obstacles

Before embarking on implementation, it’s essential to define what constitutes “success.” Is it the adoption of new service design methodologies within the organization? The creation of dedicated co-creation spaces? Or the measurable impact on key metrics like user satisfaction, efficiency, and ROI? The definition of success will vary depending on the specific goals and capabilities of the client organization and the service design consultants involved.

Equally important is identifying potential obstacles. These can range from a lack of implementation maturity within the service design team to internal resistance within the client organization, decision-making paralysis at the executive level, or even the emergence of competing solutions. Recognizing these potential roadblocks early on is critical for proactive mitigation.

The 24 Influencing Factors: A Holistic View

Weisser’s study identified 24 key influencing factors that impact service design implementation. These factors can be broadly categorized into “hygiene factors” — essential prerequisites for successful implementation — and “desired factors” — elements that further enhance the likelihood of success.

The six hygiene factors are:

Implementation Maturity: Both the service design team and the client organization must possess the necessary experience and capabilities for implementation.
C-Level Sponsorship: Active and visible support from top management is crucial for driving change and overcoming internal resistance.
Implementation Management: Dedicated project management throughout all phases of the implementation process is essential for maintaining momentum and ensuring alignment.
Temporary Project Organization: Establishing a dedicated team with representatives from both the service design firm and the client organization fosters collaboration and ownership.
Inter-divisional Staff Involvement: Engaging employees from different departments ensures diverse perspectives and promotes buy-in.
Personnel Capacity: Sufficient resources, both human and financial, must be allocated to support the implementation process.

These hygiene factors should be addressed as early as the contract clarification stage. Ignoring them can significantly jeopardize the entire project.

Introducing the KUER Implementation Model: A Structured Approach

To provide a structured framework for navigating the complexities of service design implementation, the KUER model was developed. KUER stands for:

Key Prerequisites: This initial phase focuses on clarifying objectives, defining success, and ensuring the presence of the necessary hygiene factors. This stage also involves establishing “iterative contracting,” recognizing that service design processes often evolve and require flexible agreements.
Understand & Discover: This phase involves setting up a “safe space” for co-creative work and conducting thorough diagnostic activities. This includes analyzing user needs, the client organization’s culture and capabilities, and relevant economic parameters.
Enable & Define: In this phase, solutions are developed, prototyped, and tested iteratively with users, employees, and stakeholders. A three-dimensional selection mechanism is used to evaluate and refine the solutions.
Reinforce & Deliver: The final phase focuses on integrating the new service design concept into the organization’s daily operations, ensuring user acceptance, and measuring its impact.

The KUER model emphasizes the iterative nature of the implementation process, acknowledging that setbacks and feedback loops are inevitable. It provides a flexible framework that can be adapted to the specific needs of each project.

12 Lessons Learned: Practical Wisdom for Service Designers

Weisser’s research also yielded 12 valuable lessons learned, offering practical guidance for service designers navigating the implementation journey:

Hygiene Factors are Non-Negotiable: The six hygiene factors are not optional; they are essential for successful implementation.
Implementation Starts on Day One: Implementation considerations should be integrated from the very beginning of the project, including the contract clarification stage.
Organizations are Complex Systems: Client organizations are not linear and predictable; they are complex, context-dependent systems.
Resistance is Natural: Expect resistance to change and address it proactively.
Meaning Drives Behavior: Prototypes and storytelling can help make the abstract concrete and demonstrate the “meaning” of the new service design concept.
Communication is Key: Establish clear communication channels and ensure that everyone understands the terminology and concepts involved.
The Closeness-Distance Dilemma: Service designers must work closely with clients while maintaining sufficient distance to avoid being entangled in internal politics.
System Logic and Survival: Be mindful of how feedback and user research are presented, as they can trigger defensive reactions within the client organization.
Every Action is an Intervention: Recognize that every interaction with the client organization has an impact, even if it’s not immediately visible.
Risk Minimization is Essential: Support executives in assessing and mitigating risks associated with the new service design concept.
Three-Dimensional Consulting: Service designers should act as process, specialist, and mindset consultants.
Prepare for Handover: If service designers are not involved in the later stages of implementation, they must prepare clear guidelines and documentation to ensure the project’s continuity.

Looking Ahead: Embracing Systemic Thinking

The successful implementation of service design projects requires a shift in mindset. Service designers must move beyond a purely tactical approach and embrace systemic thinking. They must recognize the complexity of organizations, understand the interplay of various influencing factors, and develop the skills to navigate the challenges of organizational change.

By incorporating principles from organizational development and management consulting, service designers can become more effective agents of change. They can help organizations not only design innovative services but also successfully implement them, creating tangible impact and delivering exceptional customer experiences. The KUER model and the 12 lessons learned provide a valuable roadmap for this journey, empowering service designers to bridge the gap between concept and reality and unlock the true potential of service design.