Journey management, basic mistakes: solving pains isn’t the job, but creating systems is
- Sérgio Tavares, ph.D.
- Oct 11, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 3
Service design in journey management goes deeper than just identifying customer pain points. While spotting friction points is important, here’s the surprising twist: journey management isn’t about solving those pains directly. Instead, it hands the responsibility over to the relevant teams, guiding them to ideate and fix the issues. However, teams often get caught up solving the symptoms, not the root cause. They tend to settle for quick fixes that lead to cross-departmental conflicts or temporary solutions.
JourneyOps holds the unique advantage of having a broad, panoramic view of the entire customer experience. This perspective helps spot patterns that individual teams can’t. JourneyOps can detect recurring issues and prompt teams to dig deeper, encouraging them to address the root causes. The true power of service design is not just in relieving present pains but in creating systems that prevent future ones, driving long-term improvement.
Why it matters
If you only solve a pain point without addressing its root cause, the problem will return. JourneyOps helps design systemic solutions that address these problems at their core.
The quick fix trap
It’s a tale as old as time: a team is handed a customer complaint and jumps straight into action. Customers don’t like the long wait times? Easy—let’s hire more staff. Sales and marketing aren’t aligned? Fine—throw in a new tool. While these quick fixes might seem like the right answer, they usually target the surface-level problem, ignoring the deeper cause.
That’s the trap. Teams, eager to show results, often tackle symptoms without addressing the root cause. This results in the same problems recurring down the line. And when teams from different departments try to collaborate without a shared understanding of the root issue, it often leads to frustration and conflict.
JourneyOps steps in here, recognizing the patterns. It can identify when teams are stuck in a loop of quick fixes and guide them toward systemic change. This approach shifts journey management from reactive to proactive.
Designing for systemic change
The real task of service design in journey management is to create systems that prevent pain points from happening in the first place. It’s about redesigning workflows, breaking down silos between departments, and changing how teams collaborate. Instead of constantly firefighting, service design builds structures that can adapt, ensuring that the same issues don’t resurface.
JourneyOps doesn’t do the fixing itself; it’s a facilitator. Its job is to pinpoint the problems and help teams understand the deeper issues at play. By encouraging teams to address the root causes, it ensures the changes made are long-lasting and impactful.
JourneyOps: The engine for continuous improvement
JourneyOps is essentially the engine that drives this continuous improvement. It has a bird’s-eye view of the customer journey, allowing it to identify recurring pain points and urge teams to focus on root causes. More than just highlighting problems, JourneyOps helps build systems that improve collaboration and communication, preventing issues from reappearing.
When done right, service design in journey management doesn’t just fix pain points—it creates a framework that systematically addresses the root causes, leading to a more resilient, customer-focused organization.
Key takeaways
Service design in journey management identifies pain points but doesn’t solve them directly.
Teams often solve symptoms, not root causes, which leads to recurring problems.
JourneyOps has a unique vantage point, spotting patterns that help drive systemic improvements.
The role of service design is to create systems that prevent recurring pain points, not just deliver quick fixes.
Journey management encourages teams to step back, understand root causes, and solve them for lasting change.
Further reading
Stickdorn, M., Lawrence, A., Hormess, M., & Schneider, J. (2018). This is service design doing: Applying service design thinking in the real world.
Polaine, A., Løvlie, L., & Reason, B. (2013). Service design: From insight to implementation.
Parker, S., & Heapy, J. (2022). Customer journeys reimagined: A guide to service design for the next decade.
King, A. (2023). JourneyOps and the future of customer experience management.
Jones, P. H. (2014). Design for care: Innovating healthcare experience.
