In this episode of Creating Better Products, host Sabrina Mach sits down with Johanna Vollrath — service designer, researcher, and team catalyst — to unpack a counterintuitive truth: speed doesn’t come from hustle. It comes from design.

Johanna shares how her team cut delivery time from three months to just three weeks — not by pushing harder, but by applying service design skills internally to align people, reduce confusion, and unlock momentum. The twist? She didn’t just design for users — she designed the team experience itself.

Whether you're facing delivery pressure, misalignment, or internal resistance, this episode offers a fresh blueprint for building product teams that move faster because they understand more.

🧩 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

👉 Why “being faster” often backfiresTrying to sprint without shared clarity creates hidden drag. Johanna reveals how many teams lose speed by skipping the hard — but necessary — upfront alignment.

👉 How service blueprints can supercharge team understandingUsed differently, service blueprints don’t just show user journeys — they reveal team assumptions and knowledge gaps. Johanna shows how to turn them into strategic decision tools.

👉 Using design skills on your own stakeholdersForget endless persuasion. Johanna applied classic research and empathy skills to understand stakeholder fears — and turned blockers into advocates.

👉 Why team emotions are a speed multiplierEmotional speed matters. Psychological safety, motivation, and shared purpose helped her team work smarter, not harder — and made delivery feel effortless.

👉 Pro tip: Measure what didn’t go wrongGreat design often prevents waste rather than creates flash. Learn how to recognize and communicate the value of avoided rework and alignment debt.

📚 Resources Johanna Recommends:

Lean Inception by Paulo Caroli

The Culture Map by Erin Meyer

IXDA Conference Talks

99% Invisible Podcast

Service Blueprints (reimagined for internal use)

💬 Question for you:

When has going slow early helped your team speed up later? What design rituals or alignment tools helped your team deliver with confidence? Drop a comment — your story will inspire others and might shape a future episode.