Better Service Through Promise Theory
Jeff Sussna Ingineering.IT @jeffsussna
Work: help companies adopt IT innovation
History: dev + QA + ops
Method: design thinker, thought-process challenger
1.What is promise theory?
2. What is service?
3. How does one help the other?
Software is eating the world…
Every business is a digital business
The physical…
…merges with the virtual
Internal systems connect…
…with external experiences
Systems + People
Functionality + Operability
Physical + Digital
To understand complex socio-technical systems…
…you first must understand teenagers
“I promise I’ll clean my room before dinner.”
Intention
Expression
Intensity
Benefit
A promise is
“a strongly stated intention to provide service”
Protip: promises aren’t always kept
A promise is
“a strongly stated intention to provide service that may or may not come to pass”
I promise to store the word ‘foo’ in the file bar.txt
Real-world systems!Collections of autonomous agentscollaborating through promises
Acknowledging uncertainty enables greater certainty
Auto-scaling
Circuit breakers
Continuous integration
Design-for-fail
Treating agents as autonomous enables greater scalability and resilience
Microservices
Self-organizing teams
Scaling agile
Needs + promises > requirements
What is service?
Experience, not thing
Relationship, not transaction
Value co-creation, not delivery
Service providers promise to help customers accomplish their jobs-to-be-done
“The product is the trip”!-AirBnB designer
All aspects of a service organization must collaborate to fulfill customer promises
Brand quality == ops quality
What is the traveler’s job-to-be-done on arrival?
How can Promise Theory help digital service quality?
What promises should we make?
Promise theory engenders empathy
What promises do we need others to make to us?
What should we do to maximize trust?
What promises do our customers need to make?
As a hotel operator I promise to help you rest as part of your trip
As a reservation system I promise to help you reserve a satisfactory room
I promise to be functional usable and available I promise not to lose your reservation I promise not to let your credit card get stolen
As a hotel lobby I promise to help you transition from travel to rest
I promise to be clean, attractive, and navigable I promise to be friendly and helpful I promise to give you a place to store your luggage
As a front-desk systemI promise to help you get the guest checked in
I promise to be functional usable and available I promise to find the right information quickly
As a hotel property I promise to support your larger service context
I promise to update your airline rewards points I promise to help you find a nice restaurant for dinner I promise to let you work from your room I promise to get you a taxi in time to get to the airport
Promise Theory helps span boundaries Horizontal and vertical silos Disciplines and perspectives Providers and customers Service systems
DevOps is to Promise Theory as…
MktDesDevQASuppEtcOps becomes…
…Promise Thinking!
(w/apologies to Design Thinking)
Model the organization from the customer in Customer journey Service blueprint
View relationships in terms of promises BenefitEmpathyAutonomyResilience
Unify design, operations, and repair
Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Read: ‘In Search of Certainty’, Burgess‘Promise Theory’, Bergstra/Burgess ‘Understanding Computers and Cognition’, Winograd/Flores
www.ingineering.it
blog.ingineering.it
linkedin.com/in/jeffsussna
@jeffsussna
Photo credits!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/donhomer/12862086683/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/uniquehotelsgroup/5690081235/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbill/6566209207/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/neospire/3595638270/ http://www.rewardexpert.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Global-Entry1.jpghttps://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/7780990192/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/drainrat/14644026133 https://www.flickr.com/photos/crabchick/6261927068/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/mplemmon/2691465516/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/48722974@N07/4596672640/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebrenner/305255359/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/5719382021/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmrosenfeld/3155170767/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/5785125108/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/11790927943/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/11553519@N03/4634956248/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/seafaringwoman/5461280385/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/surmolotto/3510114082/https://www.flickr.com/photos/44124466731@N01/27687364/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/jylcat/538008079/