An Interview with Disha Mittal: Creating the Conditions for Service Design in Local Government
Part of the Service Design Conference Europe 2025
What does it really take to make service design work in the public sector? According to Disha Mittal, Service Designer at the London Borough of Camden, the design itself is just the beginning. The real work lies in shaping the environment where design can thrive.
We caught up with Disha ahead of her session at Service Design Conference Europe 2025, to explore her experiences, reflections, and the overlooked conditions that make service transformation sustainable — especially in the complex world of local government.
“Service design is 10% design and 90% creating the conditions for design to happen.” What does that mean to you, and how has it shaped your approach?
This quote perfectly captures a fundamental reality I’ve encountered working in local government: the technical act of designing a service — mapping user journeys, prototyping solutions, running workshops — is only a small part of the challenge. The far greater and more complex work lies in creating the right conditions for design to take root and flourish.
At the council where I work, we have a strong community of practice around service design. Part of our ongoing conversations centres on the skills that make a good service designer. We’ve even developed our own skills framework, and many of the skills we emphasise go beyond traditional design craft. These include the ability to clearly communicate what service design is, make a compelling business case for it, create the right environments for collaboration, use accessible language for co-design, and foster a culture of lasting change.
Service design is not a one-off activity — it only has value if the changes it brings about are sustained. Achieving this means taking stakeholders on a journey, building understanding and shared commitment over time.
The public sector operates within entrenched structures, multiple departments, and often competing priorities. For design to be truly effective, there must be shared clarity around goals, aligned ownership for implementation, and a culture that embraces iteration and learning. Without these conditions, even the most carefully crafted design risks getting lost in bureaucratic silos or fading away once the design team moves on.
This insight has shaped my approach by shifting my focus beyond deliverables. I have learned to dedicate time to building relationships, fostering empathy across teams, and helping stakeholders connect design to their own priorities and challenges. I also work to embed iterative mindsets and establish governance and measurement practices that sustain momentum.
Ultimately, this quote reminds me — and the teams I collaborate with — that service design isn’t just about creating a new service; it’s about enabling change. And meaningful change only happens when the right conditions are in place and nurtured over time.
Service design often spans multiple departments. How do you navigate silos and enable collaboration across teams?
In my experience, silos themselves aren’t always a problem — what really matters is that teams share a common goal and have a clear understanding of their own roles and responsibilities, as well as how they interact with other teams. Each team has its own dynamics, and these can either help or hinder collaboration. For example, strong team loyalty can be great for uniting a group internally, but it can also create barriers when trying to work cross-functionally.
As service designers, we have a unique role in bringing a user-centric perspective to the table. Teams often get caught up in their daily tasks and may lose sight of the end-to-end user experience, which naturally spans multiple departments. By helping teams see the bigger picture and the interconnectedness of their work, we can guide them towards a shared vision — a clear “North Star” focused on delivering a unified service experience for users.
Ownership is another key factor. When teams feel ownership over changes within their service area, the likelihood of sustainable improvement increases. Designers can foster this ownership through activities like capability-building workshops, co-design sessions, and involving staff directly in creating the service vision.
Finally, cultivating empathy between teams is crucial. Without visibility into each other’s work and challenges, teams may fall into a blame culture. In one project, I first built trust with individual teams before bringing them together. During a joint session, I shared anonymised quotes highlighting pain points from both sides without revealing who said what. This simple act helped teams realise their struggles were shared, breaking down barriers and opening the door to genuine collaboration.
What are the most overlooked—but critical—conditions that make service design improvements sustainable?
Several essential conditions are often overlooked but absolutely critical to ensuring that service design improvements don’t just happen as one-off successes but become truly sustainable parts of the system.
- Clarity on the role and scope of the service design function
It’s vital that everyone involved in the piece of work, from frontline staff to senior leaders, understands what service design is and what it isn’t. This is ultimately the designer’s responsibility and a very important one. When stakeholders clearly know which conversations and decisions the design team should be involved in, it helps manage expectations and prevents misalignment. - Establishing clear ownership of project outcomes
Without clear ownership, projects risk falling into a black hole after the design phase. It’s crucial that someone — whether a service manager, team lead, or executive sponsor — owns the implementation and ongoing management of service improvements. - Embedding an iterative culture of working
Service design thrives in environments where iteration is the norm. A culture that encourages experimentation, learning from failure, and continuous improvement allows teams to adapt solutions in response to real-world feedback. - Building in feedback loops and room for failure
Sustainable improvement depends on feedback mechanisms and psychological safety. When failure is treated as an opportunity to learn, it creates resilience and adaptability within the service.
In summary, these conditions — clear roles, ownership, iterative mindset, and strong feedback — form the foundation for service design to move beyond a project phase into becoming part of the organisation’s DNA.
How can service designers influence leadership without formal authority?
Influencing leadership or stakeholders without formal authority is definitely a challenge, but it’s also a crucial skill for service designers. Here are some practical tips I’ve found effective:
- First, take time to understand what matters to each stakeholder individually.
- Next, be clear about what you need from them — resources, buy-in, funding, or unblocking barriers.
- Then, speak their language: link your design work to their KPIs, strategic goals, or the organisation’s broader mission.
- Show how the work benefits not just users, but the organisation too.
By framing your advocacy in terms of shared goals and mutual benefit, you create a compelling case that resonates with leadership and helps build the conditions needed for successful service design.
You also mentor and teach globally. How does this shape your own design practice?
Mentoring and design education are integral to my practice. I’m passionate about introducing design methodologies into spaces where they’re not traditionally used — like business schools — because I believe design thinking can enrich and complement many other disciplines. Teaching also offers me a valuable chance to reflect on my own work; in many ways, it’s a selfish pursuit that keeps me sharp and curious.
Recently, I’ve been developing a venture called Service Design Careers, a platform dedicated to helping service and product designers land jobs. It’s incredibly rewarding and connects me with a wide range of designers, especially those early in their careers, whose fresh perspectives continually inspire me.
As an expat, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges international designers face. I’ve supported designers who’ve applied to hundreds of roles without success — and seeing them start to get interviews and offers after working together has been incredibly meaningful.
My advice to emerging designers:
Learn how automated screening systems work, especially in job applications. And if you ever need guidance or support, I’m always open to being contacted. Driving change is hard — but with the right community, it becomes a shared journey.
Hear More at the Conference
📅 Session: Creating the Conditions for Service Design
🗓 *Monday, 16 June 2025 | 12:10 PM – 12:50 PM
📍 London, UK | Part of the Service Design Conference Europe 2025
🎟 View the agenda: Click Here
🔗 Event info: Click Here
🎫 Tickets: Click Here
