Erik's Design Sprint Guide
This is an overview of how to conduct a remote process that accelerates a problem or idea into a client-tested solution in just 5 days.
The design sprint team will utilize Zoom and devote roughly 2.5 hours on Day 1, 2, and 3 -- then half an hour on Day 5 for wrap up following testing. Prototyping and user testing will be conducted by individuals on the design sprint team, but will not require the whole team.
Design sprint collaboration and organization will take place in the virtual whiteboard Mural, utilizing a design sprint-specific template.
Before Sprint Week
- Try out the whiteboard software with your team
- Ask your team to get ahold of writing utensils and printer paper
- Prepare playlist for background and segue music
- Schedule usability testing meetings with clients
- Assemble usability testing team with roles
Getting Started
- Identify your team (max 7 people)
- Facilitator: Erik
- Decider: Either the Director of Technology or Product Manager
- The remainder shouldn’t necessarily be the product team. Diverse expertise and perspectives are valued highly for sprint teammates.
- Identify your experts: select 2-3 people from within the company, close collaborators, or other key knowledgable folks
Day 1: Map
- Introduction (5 mins)
- Long Term Goal (5 mins)
- Sprint Questions using Note N’ Vote (5 mins)
- Note N’ Map (15 mins)
- Combine Maps (15 mins)
- How Might We? Questions (15 mins per expert, total 45-60 mins)
- Take a break (15 mins)
- Organize HMW’s (10 mins)
- Target (15 mins)
Day 2: Sketch
- Gather Lightning Demo content (15 mins)
- Lightning Demos (3 mins each, ~20 mins total)
- Take a break (15 mins)
Four Step Sketch (~1hr 30mins)
- Notes (20 mins)
- Ideas (20 mins)
- Crazy 8 (8 mins)
- Take a break (15 mins)
- Solution Sketch (45 mins)
Send Solution Sketches to Facilitator
Day 3: Decide
- Art Museum (15 min)
- Speed Critique (45min)
- Straw Poll (5 min)
- Supervote (5 min)
- Take a break (15-30 mins)
- Storyboard (50 mins)
- Storyboard Planning (15 mins)
- Storyboard Assembly (35+ mins)
Day 4: Prototype
- Design prototype in Sketch
- Create layout and polish it
- Connect screens together for navigation
- Publish prototype to Invision
- Confirm usability testing meetings
Day 5: Test
- Usability testing meetings:
- 15-30 minutes per test
- Record results in Sprint Scorecard
- Wrap Up Meeting (30 mins)
Resources
- Selfie Sketch Icebreaker / Mural training
- Mural's official design sprint template
- Remote design sprint overview
- Mural Video Voting Tool Demo
- Storyboard Guide
Gathering your team
Here are email / message templates for each type of user involved in the design sprint process, to help get them all on board and prepared.
Explanation message for team
On <date>, we will be leading a remote “design sprint”, and we’d love for you to be a team member in the process!
What the heck is a design sprint?
The big idea with the Design Sprint is to build and test a prototype in just five days. We’ll take a small team, clear some time in the schedule for a week, and rapidly progress from problem to tested solution using a proven step-by-step checklist. It’s like fast-forwarding into the future so we can see how customers react before we invest all the time and expense of building a real product.
But the Design Sprint is not just about efficiency. It’s also an excellent way to stop the old defaults of our work and replace them with a smarter, more respectful, and more effective way of solving problems that brings out the best contributions of everyone on the team and helps us spend our time on work that really matters.
The problem we’ll be tackling? <insert problem>
The design sprint team (that’s you!) will utilize Zoom and devote roughly 2.5 hours on Day 1, 2, and 3 -- then half an hour on Day 5 for wrap up. We’ve chosen you to be on the team because of your diverse perspective and expertise in the scope of our problem.
Let us know what questions you have! We hope you’re available and can’t wait to solve problems with you.
Explanation message for experts
On <date> we will be leading a remote “design sprint”, and we’d love for you to be an expert in the process!
What the heck is a design sprint?
The big idea with the Design Sprint is to build and test a prototype in just five days. We’ll take a small team, clear some time in the schedule for a week, and rapidly progress from problem to tested solution using a proven step-by-step checklist. It’s like fast-forwarding into the future so we can see how customers react before we invest all the time and expense of building a real product.
But the Design Sprint is not just about efficiency. It’s also an excellent way to stop the old defaults of our work and replace them with a smarter, more respectful, and more effective way of solving problems that brings out the best contributions of everyone on the team and helps us spend our time on work that really matters.
The problem we’ll be tackling? <insert problem>
As an expert (that’s you!) you will utilize Zoom and devote roughly 30 minutes on Day 1 with the design sprint team to answer questions about the problem at hand. We’ve chosen you to be an expert because of your diverse perspective and expertise in the scope of our problem.
Let us know what questions you have! We hope you’re available and can’t wait to solve problems with you.
Explanation message for testers
On <date>, we leading a remote “design sprint”, and we’d love for you to be a usability tester in the process!
What the heck is a design sprint?
The big idea with the Design Sprint is to build and test a prototype in just five days. We’ll take a small team, clear some time in the schedule for a week, and rapidly progress from problem to tested solution using a proven step-by-step checklist. It’s like fast-forwarding into the future so we can see how customers react before we invest all the time and expense of building a real product.
But the Design Sprint is not just about efficiency. It’s also an excellent way to stop the old defaults of our work and replace them with a smarter, more respectful, and more effective way of solving problems that brings out the best contributions of everyone on the team and helps us spend our time on work that really matters.
The problem we’ll be tackling? <insert problem>
As a usability tester (that’s you!) you will utilize Zoom and devote roughly 15 minutes on Day 5. We’ve chosen you to be a tester because of your diverse perspective and relationship with the problem at hand.
Let us know what questions you have! We hope you’re available and can’t wait to share our prototype with you.
