Service Desk: How We Work

If you're stuck in a cycle of tactical fixes such as optimizing headlines, cleaning email lists, chasing the latest platform trend but still unsure if your work actually matters to anyone, you're not alone.

Most information producers are so busy trying to optimize what they're already doing that they never step back to ask: Are we building something people actually need? 

That's the foundational question we want to help you answer.

The service shift

We use service design methods to move quickly: research to understand real needs, rapid prototyping to test ideas, and iteration based on what works.

Think of us like a trainer on the gym floor: we offer guidance when you need it, not a rigid program. We do this by focusing on a fundamentally different approach: foundational service strategy over tactical optimization.

Tactical optimization work typically asks: How do we get more people to see, click, or engage with what we're already making?

Tactical optimization:

• Starts with your existing content and tries to improve its performance
• Relies on metrics like clicks, opens, and time on site
• Assumes the problem is distribution or presentation of content
• Leads to endless tweaking with unclear impact on audience

Service work:

• Starts with people's real information needs through research
• Uses evidence to identify where you can create genuine value
• Assumes the problem might be what you're building, not just how you're distributing it
• Leads to clear direction on what's worth doing and why

This isn't about adding more to your plate. It's about getting clarity on whether what's on your plate is worth doing, and if not, what to do instead.

Service values

We find that projects that operate in a service mindset ground themselves in these values, which we use to guide our work:

1. Service first. Start with a community problem and intended outcome, not a content idea or institutional need.
2. Evidence-based. Ground decisions in user research and real-world signals, not assumptions or what worked elsewhere.
3. Minimal viable intervention.  Find the smallest next step that creates value. Test before building more.
4. Equity and safety. Create safe spaces to experiment. Avoid extractive practices. Consider constraints like AI, platform shifts, and security risks.
5. Open scaffolding. Provide models that teams can adapt. Build capability, not dependency.
6. Measure what matters. Track real outcomes —behavior change, problem-solving, utility— not consumption.

How we work with newsrooms

We organize conversations, workshops and other engagements to help information producers navigate the shift to service-oriented work. There's no prescribed path. This is about building your capacity to do this work, not creating dependency on us.