The UK Parliament Case Study: What Happens When You Organise Around Services with Ben Reason
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Ben Reason co-founded Livework in 2001 with the bold claim that service design was a thing worth building a company around. Twenty-five years later, he is the last original founder standing and still pushing the discipline forward. In this conversation, Ben and Gerry (yes, we know, just like the ice-cream) trace the arc from those early days of helping brands figure out the internet, through to a landmark engagement with the UK Parliament where a service operating model replaced a chaotic, project-driven backlog and delivered transformation two years ahead of schedule.
They explore what it takes for organisations to recognise they deliver services in the first place, how journey management plugs design into operations, and why the current moment feels like punk: stripping away the noise to focus on what actually works. Ben also shares reflections on scale, why mid-sized organisations often get the most from this approach, and what it would look like if governments truly designed the services they provide to citizens.
3 key takeaways
- The UK Parliament replaced a broken project-led approach with a service operating model, organising around customer journeys and cutting a five-year transformation down to three.
- Before you can sell journey management, an organisation needs to recognise it delivers services in the first place. Skip that step and you are wasting your time.
- Service design is countercultural by nature. It cuts across silos and vested interests, and right now the discipline is in its punk moment: stripping back to the grassroots of what actually delivers value.
Links from the episode
- Ben on LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/breasy
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-disability-benefits-policy-had-been-well-designed-ben-reason-u7pwf/?trackingId=iFRycmcxR9%2B47n9uWGK%2F8A%3D%3D
- https://liveworkstudio.com/insight/gonzo-service-design/
- UK Parliament case study: https://liveworkstudio.com/case/a-service-operating-model-for-high-profile-customers/
- Take a free course on Journey Management with Gerry and Marc Stickdorn: https://www.thisishcd.com/dashboard/learning/introduction-to-journey-management
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