Knowledgeable
Does the service have sufficient knowledge and understanding to respond appropriately?
Form 01 · Framework · Developing
Frameworks
Shared structures make complex service reasoning usable.
I use frameworks to make complex situations easier to examine together: to separate things that have been conflated, connect customer experience to what sits underneath it, or give a team a shared language for a decision.
They are working models, not descriptions of the whole system. Their value is in what they help people notice, discuss, or decide.
Service framework · Extended
Customer progress, system capability
Developed in Service Stellar to diagnose where customer progress was breaking down, this model connects five forms of customer progress with what the service must know or enable. I later used the same structure to discuss more proactive service directions.
Identify
“Is there an issue?”
Detect the event or issue.
Passive: Notify when an event occurs.
Proactive: Anticipate needs and surface issues early.
Understand
“What happened, and why?”
Classify the event as a meaningful scenario.
Passive: Explain causes, consequences, and requirements.
Proactive: Guide with contextual steps and reduce complexity.
Decide
“How should I proceed?”
Diagnose which resolution paths are possible.
Passive: Offer options without prioritization.
Proactive: Recommend a suitable path and reduce decision burden.
Act
“Let me resolve it.”
Make the chosen action executable.
Passive: Enable the customer to perform the action.
Proactive: Automate suitable steps while preserving control.
Evaluate
“Did this work?”
Track the current state of the issue.
Passive: Confirm completion or show status.
Proactive: Clarify outcomes, next steps, and reinforce trust.
AI-based service quality · Ava
Knowledgeable, capable, responsible
Ava raised a recurring question: an AI service can sound convincing while lacking the knowledge or capability required to help. I later condensed that inquiry into three qualities I use to think about AI-mediated services: knowledgeable, capable, and responsible.
Capable
Can the service reliably support or perform the required task rather than only discuss it?
Responsible
Does the service communicate boundaries, preserve customer agency, and hand over when appropriate?