Designsprint

The approach

We had scheduled two design sprints to tackle a major operational challenge facing the business. In anticipation, our product department hired a sprint facilitator and UX researcher, rented a villa in Arenys de Mar, and acquired travel visas for our Indian colleagues.

But then— Disaster! Our bright new sprint facilitator had to leave the company for health reasons. As the team-member with the most UX experience, I decided to take the reins.

Our beautiful office for 2 weeks

The plan

We had way too many people: 15 converging from all over the world. I thought that this would derail a lot of the sprint activities. I proposed to the CTO that we split the group into two sprints that cover distinct problem-statements in the same design space.

This meant that we would be off-piste (of the Google ventures Sprint book) and in need of some time-cutting efficiencies in order to accommodate daily sync-ups between the two groups.

The process

Learning and mutating as we went, our own "best-practices" formed over the first week:

Some activities, such as SME interviews, are best suited for the entire team. We maintained a tech-setup where everyone could view the screen, ask questions, and participate.
All-hands decision make is difficult and slow with 15 people! As much as possible assistive tools like dot-voting should be used to pair down lengthy argumentation.
Team-syncs tended to go over time. I started facilitating them like design critiques using methods such as "answerless questions," a rapid-fire question rounds where the presenters are asked questions about their artifacts but should not say anything in response.
Team-syncs tended to go over time. I started facilitating them like design critiques using methods such as "answerless questions," a rapid-fire question rounds where the presenters are asked questions about their artifacts but should not say anything in response.
"Liaising" or giving groups the opportunity to take one member of the other group for half-days was a great way to share knowledge and expertise among both groups.

HMW affinity mapping and dot voting to map problem spaces

Crazy 8s and Dot voting

Decision matrix - User stories

Low-fi testing prototype

The product

The sprints produced two engines, prototyped at a high fidelity, validated by the business, tested on users, and on its way into development.

Giving the learner the agency to control their learning journey

Supporting group scheduling, and filtering by a variety of feature-flags

Saving time and frustration while onboarding

Intuitive, accessible mobile-first design

The takeaways

Creative processes like design sprints encourage "off-piste" thinking and are the perfect places to take bold product-defining risks.
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When working in groups, there is a team size that creates the perfect balance between communication efficiency and breadth of expertise. This number sits somewhere between 5 and 8 people.‍

Learnship//

Design Sprints

UX CHallenge:

The approach

The plan

The process

The product

The takeaways

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