Step 1: Identify customers and services

Introduction

Who needs and would appreciate information about Venturing? What might motivate them to join the program? Perhaps ITIL V3 can help. After all, the concepts were formed to bridge the gap between customers and service providers. In this case, the service providers are the Venture leaders and the customers are those who need Venturing (and probably don’t know it).

Customers

Who are the customers? For now, let us begin with the obvious; people and organizations responsible to the well being of older youth:

• Older youth
• Parents of older youth
• Girl Scout / Boy Scout leaders
• Chartering (or potential) organizations, like Churches (particularly youth ministries)
• Youth counselors, particularly High School counselors

Voice of the Customer

What do these people want?
A key to their needs may be in what they’ve said. For example, nearly everyone’s initial response is "What is Venturing?"
It isn’t Scouting. It isn’t "Explorers, Part Deux". It certainly is NOT Boy Scouts in green shirts.
It is a co-ed program for older youth that leverages the BSA infrastructure. Beyond that, details will depend on the customer; the members of the Crew who need to define their mission and vision, then their program.

Services And Value

A good definition of "service" is: A service is a means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve, but without the ownership of specific costs and risks. In the context of this ticket item:

• "Customers" were defined above;
• "Costs" are in terms of dollars (out of pocket expense), time, lost opportunities (can only be at one place at a time);
• "Ownership" means the person or the unit is directly impacted;
• "Risks" are the unknowns--good and bad; weather that closes an outdoor event, wildly successful which labels the unit as the "go to" group forever.

Value? Value is a combination of utility and warranty; "What’s in it for me?" and "Am I protected from consequences?" Will this service do what is needed, with the level of quality we need or expect?
For example, a high adventure program may have high utility (wicked-cool, once-in-a-lifetime, everybody wants it), but if the leaders are risk-takers or risk prone ("I am an Eagle Scout, been there many times, what can go wrong?"), only the most callous or unthinking parents would encourage (or allow) their youth to participate.