The Global Service Jam is international phenomenon that took place for the fourth time in March. It is a vibrant and inspiring event where service designers around the world (over 100 locations this year) dedicate their weekend to work in small groups on a challenging assignment for the greater good.
In London around 50 people with very mixed backgrounds came together on Friday evening to be introduced to the topic of this year’s event. Rather cryptic, the topic turned out to be a ’shape’. Most people interpreted the line drawing to be some sort of a flatpacked box, and gamely allowed this trigger to their imagination and explorations.
Throughout the weekend the groups engaged in quick iterations of research, brainstorming, visualising, prototyping, testing, improving business modelling, and presenting. Some had prior experience on particular activities, while others were fairly new to it, but in the end everyone contributed with their personal skills and knowledge.For instance the experience of a door-to-door sale reps, and an actor greatly helped to engage people
Geke van Dijk and Bas Raijmakers were invited to come in as mentors to the service design teams in London. Throughout the weekend we tried to offer nuggets of wisdom whenever a team was drifting or getting a little confused in the process. It was again great to see how people who just met on Friday evening were able to work towards a well justified concept pitch by Sunday evening. This is definitely a skill that everyone in our field benefits from.
Like the last four Global service jams in London, Megha from STBY organised this year’s London Service Jam along with a team of hard working volunteers, who could often be seen in hushed meetings on Monday evenings at STBY’s london studio the past year.
Initiated in 2011 by Adam Lawrence and Markus Holmes from Nuremburg in Germany, the Global Service Jam has been an enormous success for 4 years in a row. Every year more and more locations sign up. As the time progresses across the time zones over the weekend, a global wave of excitement ripples over the internet. During the event, and afterwards, many intermediate results are shared online.
STBY is proud to be have been one of the sponsors of the Global Service Jam London since its first year. These brave and dedicated people definitely deserve a drink on the house.
