The rise of Service Design at Spotify / Niamh Parsley / Episode #171

I almost can't believe it... Colleagues for the entire org are lining up and asking for service design.

That's what Niamh Parsley said when I asked her about the biggest change that happened in the last two years.

Niamh is the Senior Design Manager at the world's #1 music streaming service, Spotify. When Niamh joined Spotify, only she and one colleague were waving the service design flag. But today, over 50 design professionals across every area of the company are spreading the practice.

How did they do it without hiring an army of service designers?

In this episode, Niamh shares how they grew service design inside Spotify, the challenges they faced, and their goals for the upcoming years.

You'll learn about the critical role of the internal community, the breakthrough caused by the career framework, and surprising tactics that made service design famous.

If you're on a similar journey to grow demand for service design within your organization, you'll definitely want to hear Niamh's insights!

I'm grateful to Niamh for sharing her story with us so openly and providing a peek behind the curtains of a high-profile company that impacts our daily lives.

Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact :)

- Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to episode 171
04:30 Who is Niamh
05:30 Lightning round
07:15 Niamh's journey
12:15 The article
15:30 How is SD organized
18:30 Internal guild
24:30 Career framework
30:15 Challenges
36:00 Impact on staffing
37:30 Biggest win
42:00 What's next
46:15 One piece of advice
47:30 Closing thoughts

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/niamhmp/
• https://spotify.design/article/backstage-tickets-to-the-world-of-service-design-at-spotify
• Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design (book) - https://amzn.to/42jAWby

--- [ 3. SELLING SERVICE DESIGN WITH CONFIDENCE ] ---

Learn how to get buy-in for service design from your clients, stakeholders and co-workers.

https://servicedesignshow.com/confidence