Shaping future management practices through collaborative scenario experimentation

On 8 January 2024, after more than six years of meticulous planning, development and testing, Astrobotic Technology launched their Peregrine lunar lander into space, with the aim of being the first American spacecraft to land on the moon since 1972. Seven hours after launch, a propellant leak was discovered, and the difficult decision was made to abandon the mission and allow Peregrine to burn up upon re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere. One week ago, a follow-up mission from Intuitive Machines did succeed in landing Odysseus on the moon’s surface. But in what was later attributed to both cutting corners and forgetting to unlock a laser’s physical safety switch, Odysseus touched down on its side, hampering its solar panels and communications, and causing the mission to be aborted.

Too frequently, consideration of service implementation is left until the end of the design process. As a result, energy and support for bringing the service to life often dwindles, and a potentially great service is shelved. The organisation is left with intent only, which alone cannot produce significant outcomes.

How can service design create value from initial conception through to the scaling of a service? We use the example of a newly developed tax-filing service to outline how service design creates value during different stages of the product lifecycle. By navigating through the initial design challenges, implementation hurdles and the critical phase of scaling, we uncover the dynamic nature of value creation and service design’s impact on both users and businesses.