How an Expert Design Sprint Facilitator Can (Positively) Influence Decisions and Outcomes

I’ve been a programmer, a product manager, and a hands-on UX leader for over 20 years, but recently found my passion for facilitating workshops — specifically Design Sprints. I’ve come to understand that running a Sprint leverages all of my skills collaboratively.

Jake Knapp’s book, Sprint, outlines a bulletproof recipe for adding speed, efficiency, and team alignment regardless of the facilitator’s background. However, a Design Sprint’s outcome is ideal when the team’s design passes the user testing at the end. Design is a way of presenting an idea — just because a design fails its user testing, that doesn’t mean the idea is flawed or that the problem can’t be solved.

What if:

• The team doesn’t include a strong designer?
• Most team members vote for a poor design?
• They’re used to their old solutions and it’s hard for them to design differently?
• They’re not familiar with UX best practices (i.e. mobile-first vs responsive)?

Neutral facilitation is NOT always enough for a great outcome

I understand that the facilitator is supposed to have a neutral standpoint and must not play dual roles. However, my background and fresh perspective helps with challenging the team’s mindset, pushing them to think outside the box and leading them to design an effective solution.

To put it another way, it’s hard for me to be neutral and stick to just watching the clock while the team is struggling with design—so instead, I put my thumb on the scales in a productive way.

Steer the team to a “Battle Royale”

It can be hard for a team working on a problem to see the most obvious solution, so most teams end up sketching and choosing a complicated solution. Let’s call that Option A.

As an outsider, I have the unique ability to enter the problem space with a fresh set of eyes. Since the sketches are anonymous, I design the simplest possible solution. Let’s call that Option B. (In my experience, it’s very important for a facilitator or consultant to sketch an Option B, because although sometimes another team member will come up with a similar, simple approach, for some reason the outsider’s sketch tends to get more votes.)

Either way, when the Decider choses an Option A that seems complicated to me, I encourage her or him to also choose a simple Option B so we can test them head-to-head in a “Battle Royale.”

Then, I divide the team to work on two prototypes and test both on 6 users, alternating between A and B first. The simple design usually gets the most positive feedback.

Expert facilitators prevent design sprint disasters

The goal of a design sprint is to come to a solution in a short span of time — cutting out any fluff or unhelpful-conversation that can end up wasting the team’s time. However, if the facilitator isn’t competent in design or problem solving, or isn’t aware of what the real solution could be, they could unknowingly guide the team in the wrong direction, which will only result in designing a failed solution.

It is costly to invest a week on a design that poorly presents an idea or does not solve a problem — resulting in an unsuccessful sprint. Repeating the sprint can be redundant and costly. For many companies who are testing out sprints for the first time, an unsuccessful sprint could be disastrous and lead them to believe that the process doesn’t work.

So can anyone read the book or take a course to become a facilitator? YES, but a UX expert facilitator can change the failed outcome by incorporating the best UX practices and pushing the team toward more effective problem-solving and design.