The general principles of service design thinking

Inspired by McDonald’s original “Speedy System”

The McDonald’s golden arches (Photo by Jurij Kenda on Unsplash)

McDonald’s can arguably be described as the pioneer of the fast food industry. It is definitely one of the oldest and largest players in the space to this day.

Thanks to the novel corona virus, I spent Christmas in 2020 cooped up in my little apartment alone, bored and at a loss for things to do. I had been scrolling through Netflix for a while before I remembered “The Founder.” A movie about McDonald’s that a friend had recommended, that I had put off watching for a few days.

About an hour into the movie came the inspiration to pen this piece. Here’s the scene that triggered it all. (Kindly watch this movie snippet before proceeding with the article)

Video Title: Design Thinking — McDonalds — Iterate by Alyssa Simpson on Vimeo

As you have just observed, the McDonalds’ brothers were clearly ahead of their time. They identified an inefficiency in the current restaurant operation system, and spent a good deal of time iterating designs until they came upon the most efficient one.

Here are some of the challenges they were tackling;

• Americans wanted to eat out
• The diners wanted a simple tasty meal
• They wanted to get it fast,
• They wanted their food packaged portably (not in clunky heavy plates and spoons)

As a restaurant themselves, they wanted;

• To reduce loss/theft of cutlery and crockery
• To reduce long lines and wait times
• To ensure the food consistently tasted good

This exercise took place in the late 30’s I believe (correct me if I am not) but design thinking for services as they applied it is a timeless process.

Let’s review some general principles of service design;

1. Always keep the customer’s need at the core of your design process
2. The service design process should involve all stakeholders
3. The business model should be kept in mind while designing the service
4. It should be sequential: Services should be viewed and treated as a sequence of interrelated actions or events
5. The design should consider the environment in which the service exists or is to be delivered in
6. The design should be efficient from end to end as opposed to just a singular component of it. This would ruin the overall experience.
7. The end result MUST create value for the end users eg. by saving them time
8. The design should consider extreme situations which would disrupt the normal order of things
9. Prototype the service before deploying it
10. Iterate! Iterate! Iterate! Always seek to improve the design wherever possible.

While I have never seen the inside of a McDonald’s restaurant myself, it was definitely inspiring to see the McDonalds’ Brothers follow majority of the listed guidelines in the creation of “The Speedy System,” which went on to disrupt the restaurant industry for good.

Need more? You can watch The Founder on Netflix here.

Feel free to reach out to me with any ideas or comments on the piece on Twitter: @charity_mbaka or on Instagram: @creative_protocolke