Workshop Abstract

Want to take your stakeholder workshop facilitation skills to the next level? Learn the basics of service ecosystem mapping and how it applies to identifying and solving system level problems in this hands-on workshop.

While the increased popularity of service blueprints and customer journey maps is an encouraging sign for the proliferation of service design into the mainstream experience design toolbox, the fact remains that by themselves, they aren’t always the ideal methods when dealing with senior business stakeholders in the context of overall business discovery and strategy. The theory behind systems thinking and an approach to visualize the service ecosystem at a high level should be part of the toolkit of every design strategist.

Learning the basics of facilitating ecosystem mapping exercises goes a long way towards being able to identify the role and influence a company has in its ecosystem, and pinpoint which key parts of that ecosystem should be given strategic priority (and consequently be journey mapped/blueprinted in detail if those journeys are deemed critical). Understanding an organization's ecosystem is not (just) about visualizing and diagramming it. Being able to identify and apply the right lenses to craft a visual representation that tells a compelling story can become a key sensemaking tool in your arsenal.

What topics will be covered?

Core concepts of systems thinking and how it differs from our traditional ways of representing and understanding complexity.
Framing, boundary setting, and its importance in identifying the scope of an ecosystem.
The most common types of ecosystems and a methodology for ecosystems mapping.

What exercises will be done?

Throughout the workshop, a combination of presentation, discussion, and individual and group hands on work will be used to tackle an ecosystem of your choice. Participants will work in groups (4-6 per table) towards conceptualizing that service ecosystem map.

Any requirements for attending?

The material is best suited for intermediate to senior designers, product managers and business leadership looking to add new techniques derived from systems thinking to their method toolbox. The workshop assumes some prior exposure to visual design thinking and a basic understanding of classic service design methods, though neither of those is a prerequisite.

Workshop Outline (excluding individual and group exercises):

Part I: Theory

A cautionary story about
Systems and systems thinking
Systems thinking and design ethics
What is an ecosystem?
Reviewing four UX-related ecosystem types

Part II: Practice

5.0 - Mapping UX ecosystems
Mapping activities include:
- 5.1 - Identifying primary and secondary ecosystem actors
- 5.2 - Drawing rich pictures of the ecosystem
- 5.3 - Grouping primary service clusters
- 5.4 -Expanding and diagraming the ecosystem
- 5.5 - Identifying and applying ecosystem lenses
6.0 - Further reading
7.0 - Conclusions / Questions / Discussion

Instructor Bio:

Cornelius Rachieru is the Founder and Managing Partner of Canadian UX consultancy Ampli2de Inc., where he explores his fascination with the politics of design while leading enterprise-scale experience and service design projects. Over the past 15 years, he has managed a number of large UX teams as UX practice leader at Deloitte Canada and Shaw Communications, He has consulted in a wide range of industries, from technology to financial services, healthcare, enterprise risk management, autonomous transportation and law.

Cornelius is also the Founder, Co-chair and Creative Director of the popular CanUX conference, Canada’s largest and longest running annual UX event. A self proclaimed night owl (he is originally from Transylvania), he loves red eye flights and is a nomad at heart.