How to manage 100+ journeys effectively? / Florian Vollmer / Episode #168

Journey Mapping is, without a doubt, one of the most important tools we use. We spend a lot of time and effort to create the most impactful maps we can.  It’s all part of the job: * Dozens of workshops * Hours doing user research * And weeks of sensemaking. The perfect journey map. Success! But what comes after the map?  Unfortunately, in most cases, it’s used... and then stowed away.  The map becomes single-use artifacts, forgotten. Used once, then too difficult to keep updated for when a new design challenge comes along. But it doesn’t have to be that way. And this brings us to our guest for this week's episode: Florian Vollmer. I dare to say that Florian has cracked the code when it comes to managing journeys on a large scale. How large? His team works with 100+ journey maps and 500+ innovation opportunities globally. I couldn’t imagine it was possible when I first heard that. But today, Florian not only brings our stowed-away journeys back to life but integrates them with a hundred more. Effectively breaking down silos and fueling collaboration. Avoiding rework and overcoming internal resistance. No easy task. Florian needed to find the connection – something that tech, business, CX, and every other department would embrace. In this episode, you'll hear how Florian transitioned from journeys as (very useful) single-use artifacts to being the backbone of ongoing CX innovation. We’ll learn about: - How you can build a repository of journeys even when you don’t get the explicit task to do so. - What the key criteria are for selecting the right journey management tool? - And how you need to tweak the service design process when you want to reach 100% journey coverage. No matter where you are in your service design journey (no pun intended), this conversation has the potential to take it to the next level! I really enjoyed the pragmatism in Florian's stories. Sometimes you need to let go of common practices and just do whatever it takes. Enjoy the conversation. - Marc --- [ 1. GUIDE ] -— 00:00 Welcome to episode 168 03:45 Who is Florian 06:45 Lightning round 09:45 Operating at scale 13:15 What do you manage 14:30 Who is the team 16:00 How did it start 21:00 Finding broader adoption 26:00 Where do you find the time 28:15 What is the brief 31:15 Beyond service designers 34:00 Importance of tools 40:15 Crossing the tipping point 42:45 Simplifying complexity 46:45 Lessons learned 49:00 Taking more time 50:45 Meets sustainability 52:15 Big questions 55:15 Closing thoughts --- [ 2. LINKS ] --- * https://www.linkedin.com/in/florianvollmer/ * Thinking in Systems (book) - https://amzn.to/40lcJAB * DMI article - https://www.dmi.org/page/ADMC2022proceedings (pdf - page 254) --- [ 3. SELLING SERVICE DESIGN WITH CONFIDENCE ] --- Get your clients, colleagues, managers and CEOs as excited about service design as you are. https://servicedesignshow.com/confidence