Stephen Hale

On being a postman After Stanley came home I started applying for jobs. Lagom was closed for business and I needed to find a way to earn money again. But I was still very anxious about my capacity to do work, and abo…

I wrote something about being a postman: hmshale.com/2025/08/22/o...

Some reflections on closing down Lagom: hmshale.com/2025/04/04/s...

Webinar: How to run a discovery phase for your digital project - Lagom Strategy 31 July 2024, 4pm GMT | 45 mins | Free | Zoom The discovery phase of a digital project is crucial to understanding what your users actually need and what you should do next. But it can be challenging ...

Still some spots available for our (free) webinar about running effective discovery phases (31/07 4pm): www.lagomstrategy.net/webinar-how-...

Webinar: How to run a discovery phase for your digital project - Lagom Strategy 31 July 2024, 4pm GMT | 45 mins | Free | Zoom The discovery phase of a digital project is crucial to understanding what your users actually need and what you should do next. But it can be challenging ...

We're running a (free) webinar about discovery phases - what works, what doesn't work. Come along: www.lagomstrategy.net/webinar-how-...

The discovery would have been better if we’d been more prepared - Lagom Strategy At the end of a discovery phase, our clients almost always say they wish they had been better prepared.  We run retrospectives at the end of every discovery project. They are a cathartic way to reflec...

I wrote a thing about retro comments about feeling unprepared for a discovery phase, and what you can do to feel better prepared (without creating a whole new pre-discovery phase)
www.lagomstrategy.net/the-discover...

Thanks for the comment - glad (I think) that it resonated in some way

You're right - Virgin/O2. A dubious sales method, cancelling impossible, and v quick to escalate to threats/debt collectors if you don't pay. Only solvable via Ombudsman (who are excellent).

...next blog: what I learned zorbing around Loughborough in gaps between workflow automation webinars

The end of my sabbatical - Lagom Strategy After 10 years it was time to recharge and get inspired tinkering around with tech.

The boss is back - blog post by @liamking.bsky.social about his sabbatical: www.lagomstrategy.net/the-end-of-m...

Dark patterns of service design: my 81 year old dad and a mobile phone contract he didn’t ask for Summary: My dad found himself signed up to a mobile phone contract that he didn’t ask for or need. I helped him try to cancel it and make a complaint, and when that didn’t work I helped him refer the ...

I helped my dad extract himself from a mobile phone contract he didn't ask for - I've written up an account of what it took over 6 months, including navigating complaints processes, debt collectors, and ombudsmen hmshale.com/2024/03/06/d...

The voice of the user: creating opportunities for service teams to hear directly from research participants - Lagom Strategy User research is all about understanding the user experience and ensuring the voice of the user is heard, so it can be placed at the centre of any decisions made by a service team. But, on recent proj...

This is a nice blog post by @emmalisadavis.bsky.social about service teams hearing directly from users in our research - why it's good, which research methods are best suited, why it is sometimes tricky: www.lagomstrategy.net/the-voice-of...

Expertise versus experience: which one is the best? - Lagom Strategy Lagom is a team of proper experts.  50% of our team have PhDs to prove it. And we have a playbook full of expert user research, delivery, and service design activities that our Drs (and non-Drs) can ...

Expertise versus experience: which one is the best? www.lagomstrategy.net/expertise-ve... (it's experience)

Expertise versus experience: which one is the best? www.lagomstrategy.net/expertise-ve... (it's expertise)

Sounds like the kind of thing we'd be up for doing - will take to the Lagomers

And the trees for 2022 goes to the East of England (for the third year running!) - Lagom Strategy I’ve just calculated Lagom’s carbon emissions for the calendar year 2022. It has been on my todo list for longer than it should have. In a post Covid, remote working world we didn’t make that ma...

Liam posting a thing about offsetting the 3.74 tCO2e Lagom carbon emissions last year by planing trees in the East of England www.lagomstrategy.net/and-the-tree...

Here's John talking about talking to students about service design in government https://www.lagomstrategy.net/reflections-on-service-design-in-the-public-sector-a-guest-lecture

Here's a recent blog post by me about being asked to make a discovery project an exemplar
https://www.lagomstrategy.net/can-this-be-an-exemplar-discovery

Cricket