The Service Desk Book Club

This page is for everyone in the Service Desk Book Club on Making the shift to service.

It has the schedule, each week's reading, how the calls and the space work, and a map of the space. We add each week's reading here on Friday, when the email goes out.

You can still join!

Registration stays open. Every Friday we confirm new registrations and send you a free digital copy of the workbook, the link to our space, and calendar invites.

You can join for all five calls or just the ones you can make; each week stands on its own.

We meet on five Tuesdays, at two times.

Five Tuesdays, each run twice to suit time zones and create smaller groups.

1. Tue 10 Nov: Learn to see. Bring Day 1-2, a service you'd miss.
2. Tue 17 Nov: See your own work. Bring Day 6, four lines of a value proposition.

23 to 27 Nov: Thanksgiving break, no pages and no call.

3. Tue 1 Dec: See the person on the other side of the service exchange. Bring Day 9, your promise.
4. Tue 8 Dec: Try something small. Bring Day 16, your problem statement, iterating.
5. Tue 15 Dec: Learn and iterate further. Bring Day 18, your hypothesis, and Day 22.

Between calls: The space stays open between sessions. Use it to meet others from the group, work through your pages together, or just look around.

Pick the time that suits you, and switch whenever you like.

• Americas: 9 am Pacific / 12 pm New York
• Europe, Asia and Pacific: 10 am Central Europe / 5 pm Hong Kong / 8 pm Sydney

Each call is one hour, followed by 30 optional minutes to stay and talk.

Each week comes with one chapter of our new workbook and some optional readings.

Each Friday you get that week's chapter of the booklet by email, a page a day, and one reading that puts the week's idea in a bigger frame. The readings are short and optional. (You need to be registered to access.)

Week 1: Learn to see

Service Desk Book Club: Welcome, and how it works

Your first chapter, this week's reading, and how to join us on Tuesday

GazzettaMadison Karas

Week 2: See your own work

Reading opens Fri 13 Nov.

Week 3: See the person

Reading opens Fri 20 Nov.

Week 4: Try something small

Reading opens Fri 4 Dec.

Week 5: Learn and iterate

Reading opens Fri 11 Dec.

A few norms keep the space safe.

• Each week stands on its own. If you haven't done the pages, you can still take part.
• What people share stays in the space unless they choose to share it further. You don't have to use your real name if you'd rather not.
• If you want us to set additional norms, please get in touch.

The space is a set of connected maps.

You arrive on the main island, where every call takes place. Lilac squares take you to the others.

• Main island: where you arrive and where every call happens. The activity board stands in the middle. Around it are places to eat and talk, including the Lenfest lounge, and a beach to sit on.

• Library: holds the readings, with a wing for each week of the booklet. Shelves open as each week's reading comes out. There is a shared shelf for books you'd recommend to the group, a weekly easel everyone adds to, and quiet nooks to meet in.

• Offices: where the facilitators hold office hours. Go through the door beside the librarian's desk in the library.

• If you can find it there's a hidden race track for breaks. No serious book club business here.

Getting into the space takes two minutes.

We meet on gather.town, a browser-based space where you move a small avatar around a map.

1. Open the link from your confirmation email or calendar invite. It works best in Chrome or Firefox on a laptop or desktop.
2. Pick a name and an avatar. Allow your camera and microphone when asked.
3. Move with the arrow keys or W A S D.
4. Walk up to an object, like the activity board, and press X to open it.
5. Stand on a lilac square to move to another part of the space.
6. Mute yourself when you're not speaking. In a shared area, everyone hears everyone.

Come a few minutes early to the first call, or drop in anytime before Tuesday to try it. The space is open all week. (Here's a more detailed explanation).

Stuck in the space, missing an email or a calendar invite, or want to switch time slots? Write to servicedesk@gazzetta.xyz. During a call, write in chat.

Want to explore more?

Looking for where to start with service? Here, we catalog the methods, frameworks, and approaches we've used. It is a work in progress that we will keep adding to.