How to transform the Design Sprint into a powerful Team Development Week
Recently a colleague asked me: “How did you come up with this version of the Google Design Sprint?” — I replied “well, it’s actually the original version”.
But she insisted that something was different.
She continued: “Your Design Sprint truly boosted our team’s motivation. Beside building prototypes we also reached a higher level of trust and cooperation.”
Me: “Sure, that’s what a Design Sprint usually does: it involves everybody into the decision making and it’s a lot of fun to turn ideas into prototypes in only a few days”.
But then it struck me.
I realized that I’ve learned a lot about facilitation and team development in recent years and that I was unconsciously applying this knowledge to the Design Sprint process — small variations that build trust and encourage open feedback.
However, the Google Design Sprint is not primarly built for team development. It’s a 5 day huddle to innovate and design products that focus on the user perspective.
From my experience, it’s key to develop a strong team spirit along the way.
That’s why I mapped out 6 key team development exercises that make the great Design Sprint week even better. I call it the Team Development Week.
In the following, I’ll show you day by day how to transform the Google Design Sprint – of course while maintaining its original goal to develop and test prototypes.
MONDAY
1. Kick off the Sprint with Personal Stories
Monday morning starts with an introduction round. We all know these boring rounds where we actually don’t relly get to know the people but rather their job titles.
Encourage your team members to introduce themselve by sharing personal stories not their professional background.
For example you may ask what hobby or activity they enjoy in their spare time. Or where they like to travel to.
It’s an easy hack but personal stories change the way your participants build relations.
Some participants don’t like sharing personal stories with colleagues. Don’t worry: If your question is openly formulated they could reply with more obvious personal details like “I like wearing Nike Sneakers”.
If your team members meet the very first time, take a flipchart marker and write down the names and the detail they share as they speak. It makes it easier for everybody to remember both the names and the personal stories.
2. Address the Elephant in the Room
On Monday evening there will be a few people left who question the Design Sprint concept as a whole. Maybe they will challenge your moderation or — even worse — protest silently.
The unspoken elephant in the room should be adressed to open up sceptical participants and increase trust. For this, I use the simple “Stinky Fish” (not elephant) exercise on the very first day of the Design Sprint.
“The stinky fish is a metaphor for that thing that you carry around but don’t like to talk about; but the longer you hide it, the stinkier it gets.” Source
Ask them how they feel about the first day. Or whether they like the proposed approach of prototyping and testing?
Hand out a sheet of paper to everybody and let them draw a simple fish. Now each participant takes 3 to 5 minutes time to write down their personal thoughts (inside the fish’s body).
Then, sit in a circle (without tables) and let each participant share their stinky fish to the rest of the group. One at a time, for 60 seconds each. Don’t allow discussions but rather express a simple “thank you”.
Put all the drawings up on the wall to keep the thoughts in the room – you may refer later to it.
Personally, I really like this exercise since it’s very easy yet powerful. It takes only 15 to 20 extra minutes.
TUESDAY
3. Check-in & Check-out
I’m sure you’ve experienced this before: People arrive rushed in the morning or are somewhere else with their minds. Maybe they had to squeeze into a packed train or make sure the kids are on time for school.
That’s why I recommend starting (from Tuesday onwards) with a morning circle or “U shape” and craft two powerful check-in questions to set the stage and open the process. Source
To catch the mood in the room, include one organizational and one rather emotional question. Try to find a connecting but playful tone to frame your questions right.
Organizational questions may cover the participants morning routine or important tasks your team members bear in mind. Emotional questions may address unspoken expectations or feelings about the Design Sprint.
If the mood is right, feel free to throw in fun questions like “What super power will you contribute today?” or “If our team ran a zoo, my role would be …”
On Tuesday evening you can introduce the daily check-out. It’s based on the same principle as the daily check-in but focuses on the learnings of the day.
Try to reach a positive framing of your questions since these statements will stay with the group overnight. Ask “What’s your biggest insight from today?” or “Where was your low, where was your high today?”.
Don’t write the statements down but give a handshake to everybody after they made their statements to close the day with a small ritual.
After the team members left the room, evaluate the schedule for the next day – based on what they told you. It gives you the possibility to improve the facilitation process and boost results.
Checking -in and out only takes 20 minutes of your day but makes a huge difference when it comes to managing the group dynamics and developing the team further.
WEDNESDAY
4. Introduce Feedback Sessions
From Wednesday onwards, team collaboration is getting more intense and structured feedback exercises really can really contribute to good team work.
To get started, try the Appreciation Train exercise (Source): Line up your team members in two rows — each team member should face another team member. Ask the ones in the first row to tell their counterpart at least one thing they really appreciate about him or her.
Tell them to rotate after a few seconds to keep the energy level high and avoid silence. This exercise also could serve as an energizer after lunch break.
Positive Feedback is a good start.
However, we all know, people don’t like to share negative feedback. I believe it’s worth the effort to include real feedback opportunities in the Design Sprint. But how?
Feedback is best given using I-statements.
A popular approach to ensure open feedback is called I like, I wish, I wonder. You can deploy it either written or verbal. Source
Split your team in smaller groups of 3 to 4 people and ask them to write down their I like, I wish, I wonder individually. Let the use differently colored sticky-notes for each of the three categories. After a few minutes let them share their findings.
They may write: I like how we split our teams to get work done. I wish we would spend less time on discussions. And I wonder where to get additional inspiration?
Instead of saying: “In large groups we don’t make any progress but even in our small team we face endless discussions. And our ideas are totally uninspired”.
Please be aware that the purpose of this exercise is not to exchange corrective feedback but rather to learn how people perceive and interpret each others behaviour.
Feedback sessions like this one will help your team members to immensely improve collaboration within a few hours.
THURSDAY
5. Go out for Dinner
On Thursday, your team members craft the actual prototype and thus reach their energetic high. It’s time to celebrate.
Just convince the decider of the Design Sprint to invite the whole team. It’s a simple gesture but it changes everything: Your team will grow and communication will improve a lot.
Easy but powerful: Dinner on Thursday
Find a restaurant that serves platter to share to encourage team collaboration even during dinner. Don’t forget to ask them on Monday whether they have any dietary restrictions.
FRIDAY
6. Team Retrospective is Key
After your team members conducted the user interviews on Friday you should invite all team members to reflect on the Design Sprint.
Originally taken from Agile Software Development there are many good resources out there on the web on how to run a proper retrospective. I prefer a public Trello list called “Retrospective Techniques for Coaches Other Facilitators” Source.
Even if you’re not into agile methods I strongly encourage you to include the following three questions into your retrospective. It’s not that hard.
What did we learn? What should we do differently next time? What still puzzles us? Source
As mentioned earlier, encourage feedback that is based on I-statements. If you like you can also use the I like, I wish, I wonder approach again.
Yeah, Friday afternoon is tough. You may schedule it in the week after the sprint as well. Typically I need 60 to 90 minutes to conduct it.
THAT’S IT
Five Days transformed.
Six tips for 5 days. I prepared a small overview for you which summarizes everything described above. Please feel free to use it during your next team development week.
Some people ask me if you can include all steps in a single Design Sprint. I believe you can. However, if you’re not experienced with facilitating feedback sessions or retrospectives, try baby steps first.
Now, the ball is in your corner to leverage these tips and transform your next Design Sprint into a powerful Team Development Week.
