Woven into the Service Innovation Handbook are 14 methods and 3 recipes suggesting how to combine them. You can download some of them from this page.

These are included to help readers put some of the ideas discussed into practice. There exist many other such toolkits and methods decks, many of which are much more comprehensive than this collection. For a review of some of the most prominent ones – and a critical discussion about how professional practices can’t simply be reduced to toolkits – see my blog post from an academic project researching social design.

I decided to put a selection of methods into the book so that it could live up to the intent of being a practical handbook that helps readers get to grips with some of the concepts and activities associated with the early stages of designing innovative services. Having iterated several of the methods through teaching my MBA class at Said Business School and using them in consultancy, I have seen how quickly using them orients people towards the doing of innovation practice, rather getting stuck in the analysis of opportunities.

In no way should this selection be seen as the ultimate list of activities that managers need to carry out. Rather, these methods rooted in design practice, to be used by managers, analysts and designers who do not (yet) have the resources to bring in specialists who are skilled at using this approach.

A couple of things to clarify up front: By method I mean a systematic way to approach an issue, which in some cases helps deepen understanding of an issue, or helps with ordering or organising it, so a project can move forward. These methods are embedded in a methodology, by which I mean an approach that explains what these particular methods enable (and what they don’t).

Most of the methods in this book have an associated template, designed here in the form of one-page printable tools, that suggest a way to carry out the method which can of course be adapted.

Accompanying each method is a worked example, to help readers understand how the method and associated template can be used at the early stage of designing an innovative service. You’ll see how the tool can be adapted to the matter in hand. They are not rigid frameworks to be followed, but rather guides to help order idea generation and developing a shared understanding about issues and opportunities to address them.

Method 1  Self-reflection (PDF, 3.2MB)

Method 2 Visualizing drivers of change (PDF, 3.3MB)

Method 3 Mapping service innovation ecosystems (PDF, 2.7 MB)

Method 4 Mapping the user experience (PDF, 3.3 MB)

Method 5 Creating a persona/storyworld (PDF, 3 MB)

Method 6 Segmenting by meaning (PDF, 2.8 MB)

Method 7 Opportunity mapping (PDF, 2.7 MB)

Method 8 Problem/proposition definition  (PDF, 3.3 MB)

Method 9 Sketching (PDF, 3.1 MB)

Method 10 Telling stories (PDF, 3.4 MB)

Method 11 Planning prototyping and design games (PDF, 3.1 MB)

Method 12 Service blueprinting (PDF, 3 MB)

Method 13 Creating an outcomes framework (PDF, 3.6 MB)

Method 14 Defining design principles (PDF, 2.3 MB)

I have not put all the methods here in a handy downloadable file, because I would like some of you to buy the book!