My name is Erietta Sapounakis. I'm a human-centred design practitioner from Sydney, Australia.
After many years as a web professional I started working in teams delivering service design projects. These projects comprised of three parts:
- Ethnographic research with customers undertaking a process or otherwise interacting with an organisation
- Forming strategy as a result of research findings and insights
- Designing concepts and prototypes to test and realise ideas
What became apparent to me through these projects was that the most important touch point to design for were staff. Luckily through my work I was given the opportunity to work on a succession of projects designing for staff specifically.
Soon enough I was collaborating with and talking to managers, team leaders, change managers and human resource professionals. The realm of design I was used to occupying -- websites, brochures, booklets, print artefacts -- was being replaced by activities, workshops, seminars and tools. The environment my "design" was landing in was also changing. I was no longer concerned with the technology environment. My "design" was beginning to exist in a human environment that concerned incentives, culture, management, knowledge and soft skills.
My reading changed during this time. The usual design sources weren't equipping me for what I needed to understand. I began reading business journals and scouring academic articles on management and group theory. I began this site to record my reading about these subjects and it has since grown as an archive about all sorts of work practices, innovations, and problems. I hope it benefits you, team leaders and others in the Service Design and Customer Experience community.
I also blog about the web, UX, design and related local events at www.eriontheinterweb.com and you can say hello on Twitter.