Creating the space to work on more meaningful challenges / Tom Foster / Episode #153

Service Design Show

There's no doubt about it... Over the last few years, design has gained a lot of momentum in the business space.

It's encouraging to see that design is slowly but surely getting a seat at the table. But at which price has this raise come? And are we willing to pay this price?

When you zoom out a bit, you'll quickly notice that it's often the "easy to digest" form of design that is praised, the form where the focus primarily lies on gaining short-term benefits and incremental improvements.

While that's a space where design can add value, it's not the space where it shines, according to Tom Foster. In this episode with Tom, I talk about how you can regain the space and time again to work on bigger, dare I say, more meaningful challenges.

Now, if you think that's going hard in your organization, mind that Tom has worked in many traditional sectors and is now back in finance. If it's possible there, it might also be for you :)

Although I'm excited that design is making huge strides these days, it's sad to see that some of the depth and craft eroded from our practice. This conversation with Tom gave me hope that we'll be able to bring it back.

--- [ GUIDE ] -—

00:00 Welcome to episode 153
03:15 Who is Tom
04:15 Lightning round
10:00 The problem with design
13:45 How did we get here
17:45 The place of design
25:00 Where does change start
30:15 The organizational middle layer
33:45 What's driving Tom
37:30 Step in the right direction
40:45 Sharing your vision
48:00 Escaping status quo
53:30 Signs of success
55:00 Lessons learned
58:00 What is the sum
59:30 Final thoughts

--- [ LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasfoster/
• http://sarah-drummond.com/full-stack-service-design/

--- [ HOW TO EXPLAIN SERVICE DESIGN ] ---

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