By Filip Healy & Ian Collingwood of Amberlight Partners

1. Mental Models, Service
Design & the Problem with
Convergence
Filip Healy & Ian Collingwood

2. Convergence to users
Users don’t know what convergence is, they just want things to work in a convenient
and useful way.
Bridging: Uniting:
“The right parts of the service available on “The right services available
the right devices” together in one place”

3. Who is offering convergence?
There are many companies offering many services under a single brand

4. Benefits
Users expect benefits from this

5. Brand convergence
Uniting the brand leads to expectations of converged services

6. Mental models
They form a mental models…

7. Who is offering convergence?
A converged brand does not always mean a converged customer experience

8. Orange broadband offer

9. Virgin Media

10. Moment of truth
The point is that the user forms a mental model that is not always true

11. Why is this important?

12. Why is this important?
Personas
Card sorting Eye-tracking Ethnography Diary studies Ethnography
Web testing Mobile testing Iterative usability Online surveys
Wireframing Usability workshops Personas Prototyping

13. However
We often get involved in a specific product or UI dilemma

14. However
We are not dealing with users

15. Service design
We only focus on one part of the “front desk”

16. Example
A telecoms company creates a browser toolbar….

17. Example

18. Example
A telecoms company creates a mobile music service….

19. mobile music player

20. Service design
Designing the “front stage” experience requires features at the “back stage”

21. Road block

22. They build what they can
Burj Dubai (height 818m)

23. What causes the roadblock
It wasn’t in the plan to do it that way

24. What causes the roadblock
We don’t have budget for that

25. What causes the roadblock
We have to keep to the schedule

26. Technical constraints
Impossible
Not impossible
Bill Bill

27. Who is scoping?
It’s beyond the scope of the project….
NOT FOR
THE
CUSTOMER

28. We’re too late
The “back office” was already
designed much earlier

29. Mental models
The mental models can help to shape the organisation

30. Integrated definition
“IDEFØ is a method designed to model the decisions, actions, and activities of an
organization or system” (www.idef.com/idef0.html)

31. Who’s listening?
Mr Big is not in the room

32. Who’s listening?
“I don’t want it good, I want it
on Tuesday”

33. Who’s listening?
Mr Big is not in the room
Product
A • UX input
Product
B • UX input
Strategic Technical Product
decisions systems design
Product
C • UX input
Product
D • UX input

34. 3 steps to move forward
1 2 3
If you work for an organisiation that cannot always deliver the products and
experience that customers are expecting then you could have this problem

35. Step 1. Charity starts at home
1 2 3
 Converge the user experience team
 Facilitate knowledge sharing
 Create a central UX information resource
 Create a wiki
 Work across programs not products
 Capture every instance the user mental model breaks
 Create a document to feedback upstream
 Proactively deliver value beyond immediate project

36. Step 2. Converge product development
1 2 3
 Recommend a program manager
 Ensure program manager attends all debriefs
 Liaise with the program manager
 Recommend program level UX involvement
 Involve service designers
 Promote inter-working and knowledge sharing
 Change reward mechanics
 Provide collective pool for requirements
 Provide back channel to senior management

37. Step 3. UX at a strategic level
1 2 3
 Insights must reach decision makers earlier
 Early product design prior to strategic and technical decisions
 Products sketched out with key stakeholders
 Converged experiences mapped out based on user expectations
 UX program manager advises decision makers
 UX program manager supports product teams
 Holistic information gets to product UX team
 Product UX findings converged upstream
 User mental models understood early in process
 Product marketing inline with mental models

38. The service system
Service design is more explicit about connecting front and back stages

39. UCD and service design
For “self service” applications “document exchange design” needs inputs for user
requirements and context of use.
Robert J. Glushko (2006), Information & Service Design program, UC Berkeley

40. UCD and service design
For “self service” applications “document exchange design” needs inputs for user
requirements and context of use.
ISO 13407

41. UX in converged service provider
• If you are a service provider
• If you are uniting several services under one brand
• If you want to develop new products for your customers that are successful
UX should be part of
your strategy

42. UX in converged service provider
“Generating shareholder
UX value on the road to full
Costs convergence correlates with
generating recognised
and effective value to the
targets customer”
Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance 2008
Strategy & technology

43. In the short term?
We know the user’s mental model

44. + =

46. Convergence centred organisation
Convergence is a service. It
Marketing
needs to be designed.
Organisational
Technology
structure
Convergence
Product
Strategy
development
Remuneration UX

47. Filip Healy
filip@amber-light.co.uk
58 Bloomsbury Street
London WC1B 3QT
+44 (0)207 307 7770
www.amber-light.co.uk