Imagine a world where you can simply look at your journey model and ask it why... Why, for example, is our customer churn spiking this quarter? How close are we to that reality?

I invited my good friend ​Jochem van der Veer​, CEO of TheyDo, back onto the show to find out. It’s become a bit of a tradition to start the year with Jochem, looking back at our past predictions and setting the stage for what’s next in the world of Journey Management.

Not so long ago, "Journey Management" was really just an emerging term. Fast forward to today, and I think it's fair to say that the conversation has shifted entirely. We're seeing organizations big and small adopt this practice as a framework that drives real business decisions.

In last year's episode, Jochem predicted that by now we’d be able to ask our journeys "Why?" and get instant (and meaningful) answers. In this conversation, we discuss how the technology has arrived and why "Journey Anarchy" is the new hurdle we have to clear.

Next, we play a round of "Objection Bingo" where we address the most common roadblocks we hear every day that stand in the way of wider adoption of journey management. From "we don't have the data" to the classic "It’s too expensive". And of course, Jochem shares some practical strategies to help you overcome these roadblocks when you encounter them.

Finally, Jochem makes some spicy predictions for 2026. Like the emergence of a completely new role in the CX space. So, if you want to stay one step ahead and hear where our field is heading, this is the conversation for you.

I would love to know: how do you feel about the state of journey management heading into 2026? A) Mostly "meh" B) Excited! C) Something else...

Leave a comment (if you're on Spotify).

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to Episode 245

05:30 Revisiting 2025 Predictions

10:00 The One Question Most Marketers Forget to Ask

12:45 Role of Human Judgment vs. AI Clues

14:30 4-Step Journey Framework for 2026

17:00 Why Journey Mapping is "Dead"

21:15 #1 Reason Companies Fail at Implementation

24:45 The "Journey Anarchy" Crisis

28:00 improving decision making

31:00 How Siloed Teams Kill Revenue

38:30:00 Another Objection: "It's Too Expensive"

42:30 Objection Bingo: Flipping the Script on Stakeholder Pushback

46:15 Wildcard: AI Agents vs. Simple Chatbowildcard: AI

48:45 Credit Card/Budget Reality Check

53:00 Predictions for 2026

54:15 Shift from Efficiency Cuts to Innovation Growth

57:00 Why "Operationalizing Empathy" is the New Competitive Edge

58:00 Other Challenges to Watch for in 2026

59:30 Near Real-Time Journey Monitoring

1:03:00 The 10 Million Dollar Problem

1:05:00 Connect with Jochem

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jochemvanderveer
• The Experience Edge Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4M2BsaT4jC5Oz54eyek0SZ
• https://www.theydo.com/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

[4. FIND THE SHOW ON]

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/245-youtube
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• Apple ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/245-apple
• Snipd ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/245-snipd

Sorry, but I have to say it...

We are optimizing our way to boredom.

Measure everything, test every variation, and optimize the customer journey until it’s "perfect".

That seems to be the mantra of modern business today.

But in this first episode of 2026, our guest ​Kendra Shimmell​ throws a big wrench in this machinery.

Kendra argues that while things like A/B testing validate what works right now, they often come at a steep cost.

Because if we rely solely on reacting to quantitative data to make small, incremental improvements, we eventually, you guessed it, optimize our way to mediocrity and boredom.

We lose the soul in our services.

Kendra shares a painful example of this phenomenon in action: social media algorithms.

You click on a cool backpack once, and the system thinks it has you figured out. Suddenly, your entire feed is just backpacks. A lot of backpacks.

The algorithm is "optimized," sure.

But it has stripped away all the serendipity, turning a place of discovery into a repetitive, boring experience.

As Kendra put it, just because you can keep a user clicking doesn't mean you aren't exhausting them.

So, the question is: Why do organizations default to this?

Why are we so focused on squeezing out efficiency rather than exploring new avenues?

When I asked Kendra, her answer was blunt: "Greed, Fear, and Confusion." Ouch.

The greed to squeeze out the last 1% of revenue.

The fear that if they try something new, they won't find product-market fit again. And the confusion that comes from ignoring the fact that humans are wildly irrational beings driven by feelings, not spreadsheets.

This conversation is a wake-up call to stop treating our customers like subjects in a scientific experiment and start treating them as people to co-create with.

And if your organization isn't ready to hear that? Well, Kendra has some advice on how to be a little "sneaky" to get the work done anyway!

The conversation ends with a question that pairs perfectly with a long walk, somewhere where you can let a little serendipity back into your day: "When, where, and how is it most important to be human?".

Happy New Year and keep making a positive impact!

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to Episode 244

04:30 Why We Need Co-Creation Over Experimentation

08:30 The Twitch Lesson

14:30 Why Excessive Optimization Leads to "Beige"

16:03 Social Media & the Algorithm

23:45 Backpack Rabbit Hole

25:30 3 Forces of Stagnation

32:30 Funding Analogous Thinking

35:00 Creating Space for Change

38:30 The Compliance Pilot Strategy

44:15 MVW (Minimum Viable Working Model)

45:45 Permission vs. Action

48:45 Moments of irrationality: taxes vs buying

52:45 Doing Things Better vs. Doing Better Things

56:15 Living Inside the Algorithm

58:15 Why We Must Learn to be Bored Again

1:01:45 The Role of the "Human in the Loop" in the Age of AI

1:04:15 Case Study: Designing for Distance

1:06:15 Question to ponder

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendrashimmell/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

--- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/244-youtube
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We need to talk about the "intern" sitting on your desktop...

Come on, you know the one.

Sure, they are fast, very eager to please, and can process data at lightning speeds.

But they also have a bad habit of hallucinating facts and making things up just to make you happy.

Of course, I’m talking about AI.

It is fair to say that we are past the initial "wow" phase of generative AI.

Now, for us service design professionals, the real question is: How do we actually hire, train, and trust this new digital colleague?

That is the focus of this episode of our Inside Service Design series.

We sit down for a chat with two brilliant professionals: Jessica Dugan and Judith Buhmann.

They share a grounded, hype-free look at how they are integrating AI into their own existing workflows. Not as a replacement for our work, but as a "Junior Associate" who needs some (sometimes a lot) management.

To make this real, Jess walks us through the framework she uses for building her own custom AI agents. She explains how to define their "persona," scope their tasks, and curate their knowledge base so they can actually be useful (and safe).

And Judith shares a critical perspective on why we can’t fully trust AI yet. We explore why we need to treat AI as an "unreliable narrator" especially when working with vulnerable groups.

So if you are feeling a bit somewhat by the pressure to "use AI" but aren't sure how to do it responsibly, this conversation has some key insights you don't want to miss.

Here's a question: If you had to give your current AI tools a "performance" review, what rating would you give them? A) Employee of the month B) Promising intern (needs supervision) C) Chaos agent (fires random info at me).

Let me know, I’m really curious where we are all at!

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to the November Round Up

04:00 Jess's journey into service desig

09:45 Judith's challenge

12:30 Designing for the employee experience and internal systems

14:00 The "Pros" of in-house service design

15:30 The necessity of patience and deep knowledge for in-house success

18:30 Judith topic

19:00 Jess topic: Building (and trusting) your own AI agent

23:00 Why we cannot fully trust any AI

27:00 Scoping the AI agent's role and understanding user need

29:00 Designing the "Human" side: Setting personality and tone for your agent

33:45 Accessibility: Is it actually hard to build your own agent?

35:30 Human-in-the-loop: Regulation and ensuring data accuracy

40:00 Why transparency matters more than just "trust"

47:00 Getting organizational buy-in for AI tools

54:45 Markers of success: How service blueprints live on after the workshop

56:30 Closing thoughts and Question to Ponder

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithbuhmann/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jess-dugan/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle

--- [4. FIND THE SHOW ON] ---

• Youtube ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-08-youtube
• Spotify ~ https://go.servicedesignshow.com/inside-service-design-08-spotify
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