One of the aims of experience design in the context of an experience economy is going to be scale. We want to be able to repeatably deliver novel experiences that create a competitive advantage at scale.

And to do that, we have to do things that don’t scale.

You aren’t going to get it right first time, ever. Not even with experience. What experience will get you is an ability to move faster as you become more familiar with the prices, the tools, your customers, and what’s worked before.

But at the start, you can’t think about designing an experience that scales. At the start, you’re just aiming to discover the right moments, to discover the small things, the tiny things, that delight.

A helpful model to look into is the design thinking double-diamond.

The temptation is going to be there to try and design with the end in mind; clever, optimised experiences. But that’s not how it works. Do things that don’t scale first.