7 tips to nail your Google Design Sprint

Over the past few years, we’ve run loads of Google Design Sprints. Although we generally stuck to Jake Knapp’s original framework, we experimented quite a bit along the way. We’ve jotted down seven key takeaways to help you get the most out of your Design Sprint.

Side note: in this article, we assume that you are familiar with the basic principles and the outline of the GV Design Sprint methodology.

Start with a kick-off

We’ve never worked with a sprint team that worked together in the exact same composition before (and you probably haven’t either). Expecting a brand new team to achieve world-class performance right off the bat, is a bit naive. Aligning a group of people with diverse skills, different ways of thinking, and different levels of experience, can get pretty challenging if you do it during the sprint itself. It will suck up valuable time that you don’t have.

The magical solution? A kick-off meeting before the design sprint. This does not have to take long — a one hour kick-off will do. Give people space to get to know each other, get everyone on the same page, share previous experiences, introduce the sprint topic and manage expectations. Also, you should leave some room for questions and informal conversation — this is a good way to warm people up. After the kick-off you’re ready to get off to a flying start on the first day of the sprint.

Monday: expand your facilitation toolkit to keep energy levels high

Deciding on the long-term goal, formulating sprint questions and mapping out the challenge can make for a rocky start to a Monday. Time and again, we saw the team’s energy and motivation dip. We were looking for ways to fix this and found ourselves inspired by AJ&Smart’s videos on ​‘working together alone’.

‘Working together alone’ involves writing down ideas individually on Post-it notes in silence, explaining them to the group straight afterwards, using a dot vote to select the best ideas, and finally putting the finishing touches to them. It works a treat for setting the long-term goal, formulating sprint questions and mapping out the challenge. So, work together alone if you want to save time and energy, and make the most of your Monday morning.

Monday: involve customers right from the start — not just on the final day

An important part of the first sprint day are expert sessions. Input from experts is essential, but at the end of the day, you’re not designing for them. That’s why we suggest involving customers right from the first day of the sprint.

Going through the highlights of previous research is a great way to reconnect with your target audience. Not having any previous research to hand is no excuse — we’ve even invited customers to our ​‘war room’ for a semi-structured interview on the sprint topic. Empathising with the people you’re designing for on the first day is crucial. It doesn’t just help you come up with suitable solutions; it’s also a great motivator for the team.

Tuesday: ​‘sketch fever’ can be prevented

Even though the sketches don’t have to be perfect at all, we generally find that many team members are hesitant or insecure about sketching their ideas on Tuesday afternoons. Sometimes, this develops into an extreme form of nonchalance or a complete mental block. Over time, we’ve tried out various techniques to tackle this ​‘sketch fever’.

One such technique is sketching solutions in pairs. This isn’t our favourite strategy, as it reintroduces social dynamics into the ideation process. But as necessity knows no law, ideation in this way is more fruitful than no ideation at all.

Our preferred workaround is to use the facilitator as an independent sparring partner. How? Place the facilitator in another room where conversations can take place without disturbing the rest of the team. Team members can pop in to brainstorm when they’re stuck or simply want to check whether their sketch makes sense. Using the facilitator as a safe haven really takes the pressure off and encourages even the most reluctant team members to happily pick up their pencil.

Wednesday: the magic question to make storyboarding a success

It’s hard to avoid discussion when the team is gathered round a whiteboard to decide on the best solutions for the prototype. The outline of the product becomes more concrete, and that’s a daunting prospect for many teams — they might feel as though they’re building a final product. At this stage, it’s absolutely vital to emphasise that the aim is to find answers to the most pressing questions and assumptions, rather than to create a pixel-perfect prototype. The prototype is a means to an end, not an end in itself. You can say this over and over again, but that’s not enough — you have to demonstrate it.

How? By asking the right question. When deciding on the best solutions, constantly ask ​‘what do you want to learn here?’. This allows you to link a research question to every design element the team selects. Place a sticky note with the research questions right next to the winning solutions on the whiteboard. This way, everyone knows exactly why you chose to add certain elements to the prototype. And all of a sudden, it becomes a lot less daunting. You’ve visibly built something to learn from, by explicitly addressing doubts and unknowns. What’s more, the added bonus is well worth it: by collecting research questions and linking them to the storyboard, you’ve essentially already written your test script for Friday’s test day.

Great concepts don’t come about overnight

After the sprint, you’re not there yet. We repeat: not yet. In the best-case scenario, you’ll need another iteration before the concept is clear. In most cases, you’ll need several. When we run design sprints, our main goal is to learn. We work towards a prototype that will answer our research questions, not a prototype that represents a pixel-perfect and technologically sound design.

So whenever you notice or get the feeling that the go-live date is scheduled for shortly after the sprint, don’t hesitate to speak your mind. A good starting point for planning is to assume that the concept will be a complete failure and that you’ll need at least a few more sprints.

A design sprint is a great team-building exercise

Although confining a group of people for five days may not always benefit ​‘day-to-day’ work and sounds rather intense, it certainly fosters a great team spirit. Working closely together towards a goal that — at first glance — seems impossible ensures that team members get to know one another, both personally and professionally. For this reason, a design sprint is a great way to kick off a new project team.
 

We’ve run plenty of design sprints and know that every design sprint is different. In other words: not all of these insights will directly apply to your situation. Either way, we hope this will help you run better design sprints in the future.

Do you have any questions or would you like to share your experiences? Feel free to get in touch. If you’d like to read on, we’ve probably got more interesting content for you.