Service Works blog
Explore the challenge free worksheet
FREE DOWNLOAD: This worksheet helps teams surface risky assumptions early, strengthen planning and identify what they need to learn before moving ahead.
What SDN Master Accreditation involves – and why I renew it
How do you know whether a service design trainer actually knows their stuff?
One answer: look at whether they've had their practice independently assessed by the world's leading service design body. I've just done exactly that - for the third time.
Find out why.
Accredited service design training: six years of lessons
Most service design training leaves people inspired and then stuck. They go back to work, face the same pressures, and the learning fades. I built Service Design in Practice specifically to solve that problem. This is what six years of iteration looks like.
Who takes part in service design training?
Who actually shows up to service design training? The answer paints a clear picture of how public services are evolving.
From policy makers to neighbourhood services, business analysts to UXers, this post breaks down the roles now learning about service design and what that means for organisations trying to work differently.
How to become an SDN-accredited service design practitioner
After completing Service Design in Practice, Sophie Jones went on to become an SDN-Accredited Service Design Practitioner. In this interview, she talks about the process – from preparing her case study to taking the final exam – and shares practical tips for anyone considering accreditation.
Sadaf’s squiggly journey to a career in service design
In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Sadaf Uddin went from furniture designer to service design consultant for Opencast, a B Corp consultancy.
Learning experience design canvas - free worksheet
FREE DOWNLOAD: Worksheet pack to help you design learning that is more relevant, relational and reflective, so your workshops and training are more likely to stick.
See you in Edinburgh for SDinGov 2025?
Use my discount code to book your place at this key event for anyone involved in designing and commissioning public services. This year, I’m also running a workshop alongside the brilliant Katie Driver on how to train like a service designer.
Why we’re offering a bursary for Service Design in Practice
Too many people who could bring insight and energy into public service design face barriers to getting started. Whether it’s financial pressure, lack of networks, systemic bias, or simply not being in the right place at the right time – the train often leaves without them.
From tick-box to trust in Welsh social housing services
Tick-box consultation is out.
This blog explores how Welsh housing providers can use service design to meet regulation and legal requirements and improve tenant experience.
Service Works renews SDN Organisational Accreditation
We’ve just renewed our SDN Organisational Accreditation through to 2028. What does that mean for our learners - and what did the accreditation panel have to say about our impact on the public sector?
5 lessons for impactful service design training success
We can’t expect to fill people’s heads with knowledge and expect them to change their practice. We explore five key principles to designing effective learning experiences that really stick.
Charmaine’s squiggly journey to a career in service design
In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Charmaine Smikle is a Service Designer at Social Care Wales.
The public sector digital transformation trap
Why did a chatbot project fail to deliver for one public sector organisation - and what can we all learn from it? In this candid, anonymous interview, we uncover how a shiny digital tool became a costly distraction from real service transformation.
Will's squiggly journey to a career in service design
In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Will Mead is a Service Designer at the Welsh Revenue Authority.
Sarah's squiggly journey to a career in service design
In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Sarah Hill is a Senior Service Designer at Education Scotland.
How to become an accredited service designer
We examine three possible ways to become an accredited service designer in the UK if you want to work in service design in the public or third sector.
UK Gov Camp 2025 Personal Reflections
Attending UK GovCamp 2025 felt like a breath of fresh air compared to 2024. Last year, frustration and burnout were front and centre. This time, there was a real sense of hope and thinking about the art of the possible! Here are the standout things from the sessions I joined.
Beccy’s squiggly service design career journey
In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Beccy Hazell is a Senior Service Designer at the BBC.
From novice to practitioner: my first service design project
Discover how first-time service designer Laura Sims applied her learning to improve youth engagement in St John Ambulance’s Cadet Programme as part of a team on Service Design in Practice.
Read the full story…