Life Discovery: Significant Insights Analysis

Explore

#4 —The Notion of "Service Thinking"
#4 —The Notion of "Service Thinking"

Oliver Ding

The notion of “Service Thinking” was captured on Feb 10, 2022.

⁠

Significant Insight

On Feb 9, 2022, I talked with a friend who is a Service Designer. We talked about various topics such as design thinking, service design, strategic thinking, system thinking, cross-boundary thinking, Activity Theory, the Theory-Practice gap, etc.

The conversation inspired me to connect Activity Theory and Service Design by creating a new thematic space called “Service Thinking”. I used it as an example of a “Connected Hub” and wrote an article on Feb 10, 2022.

⁠

The above diagram represents the process of connection. My first spark is SET which stands for “Structured Engagement Theory”. To be honest, it is just a framework, not a theory. However, I want to keep the name “SET” because it points out the core of the framework. In order to keep the name “SET”, I have to keep the word “Theory”. Anyway, let’s call it SET or the SET framework.

In 2019, I started adopting some theories to reflect on my experience and thoughts about “Social (Digital) Design” which refers to digital products for interpersonal communications. Eventually, I developed the SET framework and used it for my projects later.

The notion of “Developmental Service” is the newest idea. I just made it last night! It refers to a special type of service such as educational services, summer camps, adult life development programs, life discovery activities, etc. This notion refers to my perspective of individual development. It also echoes the concept of “

Developmental Platform⁠

” and the “

Developmental Project Model⁠

”.

In 2021, I used the SET framework to study Digital Whiteboard Platforms to test my book Platform for Development. I recently used the SET framework to study an adult developmental program. This change encourages me to think about the connection between my theoretical frameworks and service design.

Finally, I found the notion of “Developmental Service Design” is a great connector.

Now, we see a set of ideas within the “Service Thinking” thematic space:

SET: Structured Engagement Theory

DS: Developmental Service

DSD: Developmental Service Design

SD: Service Design

This is version 1.0 of the meaning of the “Service Thinking” thematic space. You can find more details

here⁠

⁠

Method

The method for this task was developed with the following heuristic tool on

April 25, 2022⁠

⁠

The above model is called the Relevance of Zone which considers Other as an important social context for the long-term development of thoughts. You can find more details

here⁠

Based on the model, we can generate the following questions:

Other: Who is the Significant Other for this insight?

Thing: What’s the insight about? Why do I pay attention to it?

Think: How did I get this insight? Is there a technique behind the process?

Self: Where did I capture this insight?

Self: When did I capture this insight?

Activity: Is this insight part of an activity? What’s the activity?

Activity: Has this insight led to a new action or a new activity?

The following section will use these questions to guide our reflection.

⁠

Analysis

Other: Who is the Significant Other for this insight?

On Feb 9, 2022, I had a talk with

Mani I⁠

who is a Service Designer. We talked about various topics such as design thinking, service design, strategic thinking, system thinking, cross-boundary thinking, Activity Theory, the Theory-Practice gap, etc.

The conversation inspired me to connect Activity Theory and Service Design by creating a new thematic space called “Service Thinking”.

Thing: What’s the insight about? Why do I pay attention to it?

The insight is about using the WXMY diagram to connect Activity Theory and Service Design. This is an example of Connecting Theory and Practice. It can be considered as an new sub-project of the Activity U project. Also, I used it as an example of “Connected Hub” for the thematic space project.

⁠

The notion of “Developmental Service” is the newest idea. I just made it last night! It refers to a special type of service such as educational services, summer camps, adult life development programs, life discovery activities, etc. This notion refers to my own perspective of individual development. It also echoes the concept of “

Developmental Platform⁠

” and the “

Developmental Project Model⁠

”.

In 2021, I used the SET framework to study Digital Whiteboard Platforms in order to test my book Platform for Development. I recently used the SET framework to study an adult developmental program. This change encourages me to think about the connection between my theoretical frameworks and service design.

Finally, I found the notion of “Developmental Service Design” is a great connector.

Now, we see a set of ideas within the “Service Thinking” thematic space:

SET: Structured Engagement Theory

DS: Developmental Service

DSD: Developmental Service Design

SD: Service Design

This is version 1.0 of the meaning of the “Service Thinking” thematic space.

Think: How did I get this insight? Is there a technique behind the process?

How to create a new thematic space such as “Service Thinking”? I used

the WXMY diagram⁠

to guide my thoughts. The WXMY diagram uses Container Z to connect Container X and Container Y. The Container Z is also named Echozone because I name the approach

the ECHO Way⁠

for knowledge curation and boundary innovation.

⁠

The concept of Container is the core of

the Ecological Practice approach⁠

. By adjusting the quality and quantity of the Container, we can create advanced frameworks for discussing complex phenomena. The quality of the Container can be potential and actual, the quantity of the Container can be one and two. If we develop a new framework with one potential container and two actual containers, the outcome is the above diagram.

I named the potential container (Container Z) as Echozone which refers to a creative space containing echoes between the Container X and the Container Y. The term “Echo” of “Echozone” refers to a dialogue between two containers.

Now let’s apply it to connect Theory and Service which is a Practice. For the Theory side, I consider Activity Theory and other theories. For the Practice side, I consider Service Design.

⁠

Then, we can roughly give a name to the third container. Let’s call it “Service Thinking”.

The term “Service Thinking” is just a name and it points to a possible meaning. We don’t know the meaning of “Service Thinking”, but we know we can figure out its meaning later.

Self: Where did I capture this insight?

I captured the insight of “Service Thinking” in my house.

Self: When did I capture this insight?

On Feb 9, 2022, I talked with

Mani I⁠

who is a Service Designer. On Feb 10, 2022, I designed the above diagram about “Service Thinking” and wrote

an article⁠

Activity: Is this insight part of an activity? What’s the activity?

It is part of several projects. Each project can be considered as an activity.

I considered the insight as an example of “Connected Hub” which is a special thematic space for connecting two or more thematic spaces together. This is part of the Thematic Space project.

The insight is part of the Activity U project which is about exploring Activity Theory.

Activity: Has this insight led to a new action or a new activity?

The notion of “Service Thinking” inspired me to publish the SET framework on

the Activity Analysis website⁠

on Feb 14, 2022.

Later, I realized that I can use the Activity Analysis website to host my knowledge frameworks about Activity Theory and Social Practices.

Originally, the Activity Analysis project aims to build a website as a digital library about Activity Theory and Social Practice studies. Now, it became

a Knowledge Center⁠

for sharing my own creations.

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.

#4 —The Notion of "Service Thinking"#4 —The Notion of "Service Thinking"

Significant Insight

Method

Analysis

Other: Who is the Significant Other for this insight?

Thing: What’s the insight about? Why do I pay attention to it?

Think: How did I get this insight? Is there a technique behind the process?

Self: Where did I capture this insight?

Self: When did I capture this insight?

Activity: Is this insight part of an activity? What’s the activity?

Activity: Has this insight led to a new action or a new activity?

#4 —The Notion of "Service Thinking"
#4 —The Notion of "Service Thinking"