How to lead and deliver successful services. The must-read guide
All organizations are becoming service organizations. But most weren’t built to deliver services successfully end-to-end, and the human, operational and financial impacts are abundantly clear. In the digital era the stakes are even higher, given how rapidly services change. Yet default working practices (governance, planning, funding, leadership, reporting, programme and team structures) inside large organizations haven't changed. Rather than modernize just one service at a time, it's the underlying organizational conditions that need to be transformed — anything less is futile.
Learn how to change the conditions
The Service Organization is the result of years of research and consulting, as well as dozens of interviews with executives. It explores significant challenges that leaders will recognize, and turns them into solvable puzzles by providing practical advice and tools that reimagine what the organization does from the perspective of its customers — and it organizes the activity needed to deliver the best outcomes.
This book is for everyone involved, from designers to technologists and from operational staff to policymakers and leaders. It includes surprisingly simple and doable, but non-obvious, steps that don’t depend on seniority or pay band and that are typically overlooked by even the most progressive professions, teams and companies.
What people are saying
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‘In this definitive, practical book, Kate Tarling finally puts to bed the “Is it a product or a service?” debate by proving that all organizations are service organizations. Through her extensive experience and straight-ahead storytelling, she lays out a clear plan for building, maintaining and evolving a service-focused company like no one else can.’
Jeff Gothelf. Author of Lean UX and Sense & Respond Source
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‘To thrive in the internet era, organizations must reorient themselves around the services they provide. Drawing on an unparalleled well of experience, Kate Tarling has written an essential guide for leaders embarking on such a transformation.’
Tom Loosemore. Partner, Public Digital
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‘What organizations NEED is exactly what Kate Tarling lays out in this book: a straightforward, implementable guide that is grounded in reality and will actually solve many of an organization’s problems - even ones that are yet to show themselves! Read this book, do what it says, and make your company more likely to succeed now and well into the future.’
Jennifer Rigby. Transformation and Operations Leader, Director at Mozaic Services; and former COO of Lloyd’s
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‘This book is SO. DAMN. GOOD. If I could afford it, every single person in the Ontario Public Service would get a copy. Congratulations, Kate Tarling and thank you for writing this much-needed book.’
Hillary Hartley, Digital Government Leader
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‘Kate Tarling does something rather special with this book. She moves beyond theory and provides tangible, practical suggestions for how to embed a service culture into organisations who wish to modernise and adopt internet-era ways of working. It’s the kind of book I wish I’d had 10 years ago - when first starting out to help the Home Office become more user-centred. And it’s the kind of book I will still be turning to in 10 years time to help me tackle whatever challenges lie in store for me then.’
Katy Arnold, former Deputy Director of User Centred Design & Strategy at the Home Office
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‘If you haven’t got it yet I highly recommend buying a copy of The Service Organisation by Kate Tarling. One of the most pragmatically useful and inspiring books I have read for anyone building services.’
Jeanette Clement, Head of Design at EE
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‘While many organizations know the value of seeing their service from the customer perspective, few have made the leap to organize around the service experience. This guide shows you how to work outside-in and inside-out in parallel, how to organize and align teams, and how to measure service performance to deliver experiences on behalf of people, operations and organizational goals. This book represents the future of organizational design.’
Jamin Hegeman, VP, Experience Strategy, Capital One, and vice president of the Service Design Network
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‘Perfect opportunity last week on a quiet train to read Kate Tarling’s book ‘The Service Organization’. There's so much in there that works across practices, disciplines, communities and organisations. All of us working to deliver products and services that meet our users needs will find practical, realistic approaches - especially if like me you're supporting an organisation to improve, mature and create the best structure to embed successful service delivery. I completely recommend this, but also make sure you have highlighters and page markers handy - as there's lots to bookmark.’
Chris Back, Head of Digital Delivery, the Digital Foundry, Ministry of Defence
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‘I believe this book should be on the desk of every public sector manager involved in or interested in real service design or improvement.’
Ed Curley, Senior Project Manager
Includes dozens of examples from behind the scenes of global companies, the NHS, UK government departments and public services, Citizens Advice, the British Red Cross and many others.
Published by London Publishing Partnership
ISBN 978-1-913019-76-1