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/