Good Services audiobook cover - Decoding the Mystery of What Makes a Good Service

Good Services

Decoding the Mystery of What Makes a Good Service

Lou Downe

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ProductivityCorporate CultureManagement & Leadership

If You're Curious About These Questions...

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Good Services
Core Philosophy+
Easy to Find+
Clear Purpose+
Achieve Goals+
Minimal Steps+
No Dead Ends+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 7
According to the text, who ultimately defines what a service actually is?
  • A. The organization providing it
  • B. The service designer
  • C. The user
  • D. The business unit manager
Question 2 of 7
Why did the UK Ministry of Justice change their service name from 'Fee Remission' to 'Help Paying Court Fees'?
  • A. To comply with new legal regulations regarding court fee structures.
  • B. To ensure the service name was a noun rather than a verb.
  • C. Because the term 'remission' was trademarked by another government department.
  • D. Because users search for services using natural, familiar language rather than internal terminology.
Question 3 of 7
What was the underlying cause of users reporting irrelevant conditions like ingrown toenails to the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)?
  • A. The users did not understand the underlying purpose of why they were reporting their medical conditions.
  • B. The reporting system had a technical glitch that automatically selected all medical conditions.
  • C. The users were trying to avoid paying their annual vehicle registration fees.
  • D. The DVLA's search engine optimization (SEO) was targeting the wrong demographic.
Question 4 of 7
What lesson does the public transport app Citymapper demonstrate about good service design?
  • A. Services should focus exclusively on one specific method of delivery to ensure high quality.
  • B. Users care more about the ultimate outcome than the specific method or component used to achieve it.
  • C. Digital services should always replace physical infrastructure whenever possible.
  • D. A service must own every single step of a user's journey to be profitable.
Question 5 of 7
What is the recommended rule of thumb for determining how many steps a service should have?
  • A. The process should always be reduced to three steps or fewer.
  • B. The number of steps should match the number of internal departments involved in the service.
  • C. The number of steps should equal the number of decisions the user needs to make.
  • D. The process should have as many steps as necessary to collect maximum user data.
Question 6 of 7
According to the text, how should the pacing of a service's steps be handled?
  • A. All steps should be completed as quickly as possible to minimize user friction.
  • B. All steps should be slow and deliberate to ensure the user fully understands the process.
  • C. The user should be forced to wait a minimum of 14 days before completing any major transaction.
  • D. Pacing should vary depending on context, moving quickly for things like traffic fines but slowly for healthcare decisions.
Question 7 of 7
Which of the following is an example of a 'dead-end failure' caused by failing to predict a user's lack of access to requirements?
  • A. A user being directed to a competitor's website because they live outside the delivery zone.
  • B. A user being unable to log into a ride-sharing app to report a lost phone because the app requires two-factor authentication via that same phone.
  • C. A user choosing to abandon a checkout process because the shipping costs are too high.
  • D. A user reading a complex PDF document and deciding they do not want the service.

Good Services — Full Chapter Overview

Good Services Summary & Overview

Good Services (2019) defines what makes a service truly effective and provides essential principles for designing services that work well for users. It demystifies the difference between good and bad services, and analyzes the common elements that determine whether services succeed or fail to meet user needs. Suitable for both practitioners and non-practitioners, it serves as the definitive new resource for anyone interested in better service delivery.

Who Should Listen to Good Services?

  • Business leaders
  • UX designers
  • Product managers

About the Author: Lou Downe

Lou Downe is a leading service design expert who pioneered the field within the UK government, where they established the Government Digital Service design standards and led a team of 65 designers. As the author of Good Services and founder of a design studio, they’re recognized for codifying the principles of good service design and have been named one of the UK’s top design leaders by Design Week.

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