Running Design Sprints
Fundamentals, tips, and tricks for program managers
Design sprints are intensive, time-bound workshops that help teams tackle challenges head-on, bringing together cross-functional partners to co-create innovative solutions. Whether you're crafting a new interface, brainstorming marketing strategies, or rethinking program operations (Yes, program managers can run sprints for their work too!) Design sprints done well can help you kickstart your path towards achieving your goals. Under cooked and your sprint can dry out your creative energy. In this post I’ll talk about the basic structure of design sprints with my thoughts on the role of program managers and the ways we can enrich the process with our operational superpowers for maximum impact.
Setting up a design sprint
As a Program Manager, you are the architect, broker, air traffic controller, and party host all-in-one. Your role is to organize, plan, and drive the team through a journey that starts with a big question and results in tangible options for solving the problem at hand. You are responsible for planning, setting the tone, and keeping the beat as you work through the sprint. It’s your time to shine as an operational and team leader as you execute the design sprint.
Pre-reads
If it’s your first time setting up and running a design sprint, take a peek at these two resources - and if you can, shadow a colleague as they run a sprint before you dive in:
1. Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp - This book is the definitive guide to design sprints. It provides a comprehensive walkthrough of the process with real-world examples.
2. The Design Sprint Kit by Google Ventures - A treasure trove of resources, templates, and tools to guide you through each step of the design sprint process.
Setup
Pulling the plan together
From a product standpoint, you want to understand the user problem you are aiming to solve. This can manifest as a product requirements doc, brief, or whatever format your organization is most familiar with. You should prioritize big, complex problems worth solving using the sprint methodology. Otherwise, you might want to use a more lightweight technique like a jam session.
From an organizational perspective, you want to ensure you know who the right contributors and stakeholders are and that they are aligned on the aforementioned product problems. This includes the folks who will participate in the sprint and those who will play a role in building the solutions that the sprint will produce.
Before you begin, make sure your stakeholders agree on the approach. Do you have a shared understanding of the steps in the process? Be clear about the methodology, steps, and the roles of each contributor or participant. Make sure you are clear on how the results of the sprint will be used. Are they visionary and big picture? Will the results become the roadmap? Plan for steps beyond the sprint itself.
If you are not clear on the goal of the sprint, do not proceed with planning. A sprint cannot resolve an unclear user need or messy product strategy.
Draft a plan of record
Documents to make
There are key two documents you’ll need to create for your plan of record. The first doc is your sprint deck. The second doc is your sprint plan. You can draft them in whatever order makes the most sense to you.
The sprint deck should be the overarching slide deck (presentation) that moves the team through each stage of the sprint. This should include an overview, run of show, objective with supporting insights, discussion guides, and session breaks built in. This brings focus and makes the program feel well planned and paced along the way.
The sprint plan should cover the following details and basic outline of a sprint. This can be a shared document that the team can reference as they plan to participate.
Setup
Goals - objective and outcomes
Logistics - When and where
Participants and their responsibilities - In addition to the presenters, make sure you have supporting roles like emcees, time keepers, scribes, and DJ’s covered in your plan.
Run of show
Prep - What do participants need to do to prepare for this sprint?
Schedule - What time should people show up for each phase of the sprint? Log this as a time table for each day of the sprint program.
FAQs
Outline any questions you anticipate the team asking
Include details on who to contact about various topics
Include links to things like travel policy, etc.
Next steps
What happens after the sprint? How do you take the ideas generated and incorporate them into the roadmap?
Who needs to see the work? What is your plan for socialization?
Notes and links
Keep a notes log as you work through the sprint. Add photos or relevant documents along the way.
Focus on the key takeaways. What were the most important things that happened during the sprint? What decisions were made? What were the next steps? Your log should focus on the key takeaways from the sprint so that you can easily refer back to them later
Communicating the plan
Tell your people what they need to know and do
You have the mic! Show folks your planning prowess and get them excited about the work ahead. Get the team ready for the sprint. It should be fun, energizing, and full of creative energy.
In advance of kicking off a design sprint, you’ll want to orchestrate the conversations necessary to define the objective of the sprint. If positioned properly, all stakeholders should see the sprint as a springboard for the product strategy. If not communicated well, PMs might see this type of effort as “stealing their designers” or slowing the product development lifecycle. You must ensure that product managers see themselves as both stakeholders and contributors to the sprint.
You can also engage your data science team, researchers, and even marketers to define the insights that are inputs for the brief. Depending on the focus of the sprint, your engineering partners can help advise on product architecture for the solutions you explore in the following steps. All of these folks can be very helpful minds to engage throughout the process.
The communication plan for your sprint should include the objective, the plan for executing against the objective, maybe the benefits of using the sprint methodology, the logistics of the sprint, and what stakeholders and participants can expect to get out of it. After the sprint, you will want to wrap up with comms around what you achieved and what happens next.
Sometimes a FAQ appended to your comms can be helpful. Anticipate common questions and document them in an easily discoverable place to curb inbound inquiry.
There are topics that you may need participant input on, from travel information to special accommodations. Make sure you have an easy way to gather that information, like an intake form linked from your outbound comms and FAQ.
Logistics
My best advice: Gather for in-person collaboration. I’m a firm believer that teams should gather with purpose, especially in hybrid organizations. Design sprints are at the top of my list of reasons to work in person (either in the office or a central gathering point.)
If you have a distributed team, find a location that works best for travelers, stakeholders, and supporting infrastructure (like workspace, whiteboards, video conferencing capabilities, etc.) For example, Airbnbs are fun options, but may present challenges if only part of your team can gather. Office locations are usually set up with all of the required infrastructure, but may be difficult to book for long periods of time. Think about supplies, support, budget, and the experience you are going for.
Once you have your location identified, make sure that it’s documented in the agenda doc and the calendar invites.
If you are choosing a location that is unfamiliar to folks, make sure you carve out time for them to find the site and get set up.
If gathering in person is not possible, you’ll want to structure your sprint with a little more technical orchestration like various meeting links, breakout rooms, etc.
Plan for moments of delight
Design sprints can be fun yet super intensive for teams. Help keep spirits up by planning meaningful moments in downtime. Little moments of fun and play can help keep creative energy flowing.
If your team distributed team traveled to a remote location for the sprint, consider setting up a team dinner so folks can socialize and connect outside of tactical sprint time. It’s likely a rare opportunity for community building.
If your sprint is remote and online, consider fun icebreakers and little moments in between sessions to help foster that connection.
Appoint a DJ to build a team playlist. Fun can be free and low lift while setting the tone for the creative work ahead. Here’s a link if you need some playlist inspo :)
Showtime
By this point in your program, you would have designed a plan, communicated the plan, recruited participants, and set up all of the logistics. Once you are ready to kick off your sprint, you shift from architect to party host. The way you show up will set the tone for the team.
Kick-off: Unified moment to go over the purpose for your sprint, what you know about the problem to be solved and how you plan to solve it. Sometimes having guest speakers at a kick-off can help rally the team around the problem (a guest speaker, leader, or customer, even!)
Explore: Ideation time! Often setup as brainstorming sessions, this is where you get all of your ideas on the table. No idea is too wild, and the goal is to generate a wide range of solutions. You can use brainstorming methodologies like crazy 8s, mind mapping, storyboarding, or even reverse brainstorming. This is usually a time for discussion and sticky notes.
Converge: This is where the magic happens. Team members present their ideas, and the group collaboratively narrows down the options. This step ensures that the best aspects of each idea are captured and refined. Here are some effective methodologies for convergence in a design sprint: voting, heat map, speed critique, or a weighted matrix method.
Prototype: Once you have your core concepts narrowed down, you want to bring your selected idea to life in a tangible way. Create a low-fidelity prototype – a rough representation of your solution. This could be a paper sketch or a digital wireframe. At this point, you may want to bring your short list of ideas to your stakeholders for review for feedback on what to pursue next.
Defining the target fidelity before the sprint begins will help you determine how much time you might want to spend on this step. It can be a day or two weeks, depending on the scope and complexity of the problem you want to solve.
Test: Put your prototype to the test with real users. Gather feedback, observe their interactions, and identify areas for improvement. Confirm that the solutions satisfy the brief and solve the user problem as it was defined at the onset of the sprint.
Iterate: Based on the feedback received, refine and iterate on your prototype. This might involve multiple rounds of testing and refining until your solution is polished and ready. It’s possible that iteration happens outside of the sprint. Ultimately the sprint should lead you to a point of view that you can build into your roadmap.
Socializing the work
Once you've successfully completed the Design sprint, you've likely generated a wealth of valuable insights, prototypes, and ideas that can have a significant impact on your product or project. However, these outcomes are only as powerful as your ability to socialize them within your organization. IDEO says this is about bridging the say-do gap. Effective socialization ensures that your hard work doesn't get lost in the shuffle and that the insights gained from the sprint become actionable. Here's how to do it:
Know Your Audience: Before you start socializing the sprint outputs, it's essential to understand who your audience is. Different stakeholders may have different interests and priorities. Consider the perspectives of product managers, designers, developers, executives, and end-users. Tailor your communication to address their specific needs and concerns.
Create a Compelling Narrative: Craft a compelling narrative around the sprint outcomes. Start with a clear and concise message that highlights the problem you set out to solve, the process you followed during the sprint, and the exciting solutions you've uncovered. Weave a story that captivates your audience and helps them connect emotionally with the project.
Visualize the Journey: Use visuals such as diagrams, user journey maps, and prototypes to illustrate the key findings and solutions. Visual aids can make complex concepts more accessible and engaging. Visual storytelling can also help your audience grasp the user's perspective and the impact of the solutions better.
Highlight Key Insights: Present the most critical insights and discoveries from the sprint. What did you learn about user behavior, pain points, or preferences? Emphasize how these insights can inform product strategy and drive business goals. Use data and user quotes to back up your claims.
Showcase Prototypes: If your sprint resulted in prototypes or wireframes, showcase them effectively. Walk your audience through the user journey and demonstrate how the proposed solutions address the identified problems. Encourage feedback and interaction with the prototypes to make the solutions more tangible.
Set up formal reviews: To foster a deeper understanding and buy-in from stakeholders, consider organizing formal review sessions. These sessions allow team members to actively engage with the sprint outputs, ask questions, and provide input. Collaboration often leads to better-informed decisions.
Share Success Stories: If applicable, share success stories or case studies that demonstrate the real-world impact of similar UX improvements. Concrete examples can make the potential benefits of your sprint outputs more relatable and compelling.
Address Concerns and Questions: Be prepared to address concerns, questions, or objections raised by stakeholders. Anticipate potential challenges and have well-thought-out responses. Demonstrating that you've considered different perspectives and are open to feedback can build trust.
Provide Next Steps: Conclude your socialization efforts by outlining the next steps and how stakeholders can get involved. Whether it's integrating the solutions into the roadmap, conducting further user testing, or implementing design changes, clarity on what happens next is crucial.
Follow Up and Measure Impact: After socializing the sprint outputs, stay engaged with stakeholders. Keep them informed of progress, and track the impact of the solutions you've proposed. Measurable improvements in user experience or business metrics can validate the value of the sprint.
Key Takeaways
In conclusion, the success of a Design sprint doesn't end with the generation of ideas and prototypes. It relies on your ability to effectively socialize the outputs and gain support for building products and services that improve the lives of your real world users. By understanding your audience, crafting a compelling narrative, and using visuals and data effectively, you can ensure that the insights and solutions from your UX sprint drive positive change within your organization. Design sprints are powerful tools for solving complex problems and fostering innovation within your organization, and as a Program Manager, you play a crucial role in their success. Remember:
1. Clear problems inspire clear solutions
2. Get your plans in order and communicate along the way
3. For the best results, make it fun
Incorporating these best practices into your design sprint will help you harness the full potential of this trusted methodology. Remember, as a Program Manager, you have a unique opportunity to bring together diverse perspectives and drive innovation within your organization. Embrace your role as the architect, broker, and party host, and watch your design sprints transform into catalysts for positive change.
Happy sprinting!