Originated by G. Lynn Shostack (How to Design a Service, 1982) and carried into service design by Marc Stickdorn and Jakob Schneider (This Is Service Design Thinking, 2010).
Maps a service in layers, from what the customer does and sees through frontstage and backstage staff actions to support systems, showing how hidden work produces the experience.
When to reach for it
Customer complaints point at the front line, but the cause may sit in back-office processes or systems the customer never sees.
How it runs
- Set the scope of the service journey.
- Map the customer's actions and what they encounter at each stage.
- Map the frontstage staff actions beneath them.
- Map the backstage actions and support systems.
- Link each touchpoint to what it depends on.
- Fix pain points at the layer where they start.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- How to Design a Service, European Journal of Marketing, 1982
- This Is Service Design Thinking, BIS Publishers, 2010