15 billion hours are wasted on ‘life admin’ every year
That’s roughly an hour per day, or just over a month per year spent paying bills, requesting refunds, making complaints, resetting lost passwords and a plethora of activities involved in ‘life admin’.
Why, despite advances in technology, does fulfilling our basic needs still dominate so much of our time? The answer is simple, but the solution isn't.
From the author of the bestselling book Good Services, the Bad Services podcast untangles why, despite our best efforts, organisations struggle to deliver services that work.
In episode 13, we talk about the statement we often use: Service design is 10% design, 90% creating the conditions for design to happen.
We talk about the evolution of the industry, and reflect on where the concept of service design might be misunderstood. From hiring ‘one service designer’ to taking on ‘low hanging fruit’, why are these approaches unhelpful to designing good services.
Join us as we reflect in our last episode of Season 1 of the Bad Services Podcast.
3 Sept 2026
12. Chapter 5, Structure
In episode 12, we talk about chapter 5 of the new book Bad Services, Structure.
We delve into the challenge of siloes, and how they impact the delivery of good services.
We discuss the difference between vertical and horizontal siloes, the Austrian Sythe, Conway’s Law and why good conversations matter inside organizations.
18 Aug 2026
11. Chapter 4, Risk
In episode 11, we talk about chapter 4 of the new book Bad Services, Risk.
The decisions we make in services, and how we design them are influenced by how an organisation treats and responds to risk.
Join us as we weave analogies about sailing to the horizon, developing monocultures of bananas and juggernaut cars to explore why it’s risky for organizations to continually invest in the short term solutions, or do nothing with their services.
4 Aug 2026
10. Chapter 3, Materials
In episode 10 we talk about chapter 3 of the new book Bad Services, Materials.
Services are made up of materials, and these define how we deliver our services.
We delve into what the materials of services are, and how difficult organisations find it to keep up with technology advances and delivering services in new and different ways.
Join us as we weave from ‘knocker uppers’ to Giambattista Vico’s ‘Verum Factum’ to ATARI and the making of E.T the video game, discussing why caring about the materials and smashing the ‘don’t sweat the detail’ leadership trope is important to design and deliver good services.
21 Jul 2026
09. Chapter 2, Users
In episode 9 we talk about chapter 2 of the new book Bad Services, Users.
We explore one of the most common barriers to delivering better services, the ever present issue or not knowing who our users are or what they need
We talk Exeter Cathedral, the obsession with user needs as both a useful and potentially damaging doctrine and look at how we consider really designing solutions and services that help people with what they need to do, that aligns with our purpose.
6 Jul 2026
08. Chapter 1, Purpose
With Bad Services, the new book from Lou Downe out now, we’re delving into each chapter, focusing on the causes of Bad Services.
In episode 8, we’re talking about Purpose
Why does a lack of purpose lead to Bad Services? How do you get together to think about what your service is supposed to do, and how this aligns to the wider purpose of your organization?
23 Jun 2026
007. Types of Service Design
Is there a right way to do Service Design? Or one process you should follow? We’re often asked, what’s the right process for Service Design. The truth is, none of them and all of them at the same time.
In episode 7, we talk about the ‘Types of Service Design’.
We de-bunk the idea that there is a ‘right’ way to do service design and share different forms the approach might take from working on one touchpoint of a service to transforming the shape of what the service delivers.
11 Jun 2026
006. Starting points in service design
Designing services has many different starting points and reasons for it to take centre stage, or be initiated.
Episode six is all about the reasons service design might happen.
So where do you start? The answer is, in lots of different places. It depends what you’re trying to do.
We delve into the various reasons service design work might begin consciously and unconsciously from asking questions of new technology to CEO pet projects.
In this episode we talk about ‘context of use’ and how it changes how people interact with your service
23 May 2026
005. Context of Use
Now you’ve spotted a bad service, and you’ve thought about who your users are, how about what they need in relation to where they’re at when they are using it?
In this episode we talk about ‘context of use’ and how it changes how people interact with your service
5 May 2026
004. How to spot a Bad Service
We’ve talked what makes a bad service, but how do you spot a bad one? In this episode we cover some of our go to data points of where to find indications your service might not be delivering what you want it to
22 Apr 2026
003. What makes a Bad Service?
What makes a Bad Service is the third episode from the Bad Services podcast delving into our takes on what makes a service bad.
6 Apr 2026
002. Good vs. Bad
Good versus bad is the second episode from the Bad Services podcast delving into why Lou Downe wrote a follow up book.
6 Apr 2026
001. Introducing Bad Services
Ashort introduction to welcome you into the world of services that don’t work for people and what we can do about it.
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