The document provides an overview of design sprints as a methodology for quickly testing ideas within a five-day framework, as presented by service designer Marc O'Connor and user experience consultant James Oliver. It delineates each day's activities, from mapping and sketching to prototyping and user testing, emphasizing collaboration and focused decision-making. The ultimate goal of a design sprint is to validate concepts efficiently before significant investment or development occurs.

1. Design Sprints
Marc O’Connor & James Oliver
24 May 2018

2. Marc O’Connor
Marc is a Service Designer who designs coherent,
consistent integrated services based on user needs.
Marc defines the design strategy for end-to-end
services.
Before becoming a Service Designer, Marc was a user
researcher. He identified user needs and used insights
to make services better. A perfect foundation for service
design.
Marc focuses on building successful relationships with
stakeholders. He then works with them to define
problems and a vision that achieves policy intent and
meets user needs.
2

3. James Oliver
James is a freelance User Experience Consultant
working with the Department for Work & Pensions.
He relocated to the North East in 2014 after 10 years
working in London as a graphic designer, web designer
and user-centred design and research specialist.
James has worked in many different industries. This
includes products and services for Penguin, EMI,
lastminute.com, Ancestry, Tesco, Marks & Spencer,
MOO, BBC, HM Revenue and Customs and Dept of
Health.
3

4. WHAT IS A DESIGN SPRINT?
4

5. 5

6. Is a idea worth
pursuing?
Let’s test it quickly
in 5 days
6

7. Google Ventures: The Design Sprint
7
Image source: https://medium.com/@rnadworny/google-ventures-sprint-the-missing-sections-24dd8cda36c

8. Google Venture
Design Sprint
8

9. 9

10. PLANNING
10

11. 11

12. You need the right team...
12

13. Clear calendar
13

14. Gathering existing insights
● User insight?
● Personas?
● Business data?
● Maps of any older processes?
14

15. Day-by-day planning
● Assigning roles amongst the team
● Sharing facilitation role across the 5 days
● Recording - iphone/tripod/time lapse
● Stationary
● Event checklist
● Have a stopwatch for keeping time
15

16. Rules
16

17. Rules
● No grades
● No phones
● No bad ideas
● Be collaborative
● *Remember* Decision-maker has final say
17

18. Mapping
18

19. THE 5-DAY EVENT
19

20. 20

21. Day 1 - Map
● Agree on a long-term goal (if known)
● Present any research findings
● Have your map framework ready… then create
● Map expert’s pain points
● ‘How might we’ statements… (write, organise, vote)
● Pick a BIG GOAL for this sprint
21

22. Big goal:
How can I confidently
and quickly book a
package holiday?
22

23. Activity
‘think about examples of
products or services to review
for inspiring solutions’
23

24. 24

25. 25

26. 26

27. 27

28. Day 2 - Sketch
28

29. Activity
Crazy 8s
‘Each person takes their strongest ideas and rapidly sketches eight variations in
eight minutes’
‘Ask yourself, what would be another good way to do this?’
29

30. 30

31. Day 3 - Decide
● Art gallery
● Sort sketches* (we had to as we had an exceptionally large quantity)
● Vote - Google Ventures recommend 20-30 blue/green dots each on specific
features you like, rather than entire drawings
● Heatmap - 2-3 red dots on your favourite overall ideas
● Note any concerns e.g. feasibility (good to have developers in room)
● Storyboard - use only best bits
31

32. Day 4 - Prototype
● Flow diagram
● Sketch out your prototype
● We chose mobile-first & it helped to keep the concept/content concise too
● We used Marvel to create a quick interactive prototype from sketches
32

33. 33

34. Day 5 - Test
● User testing
● What is the measurement for success to see if we met our big goal?
● We travelled to London and met 5 users
● *Recruit right user types in advance if possible, saves time at the end
(2 week lead-time is normal in GOV for example)
● We wanted to have observers so needed a lab
34

35. END OF THE DESIGN SPRINT
35

36. 36

37. 37

38. DID WE ANSWER OUR BIG GOAL?
38

39. WHAT NEXT?
39

40. Post-event
● Overall excitement & enthusiasm generated for the project
● Brought everyone together quickly in terms of a shared goal
● Positive feedback from our business expert participants involved
● Our experiences were shared across wider government
● The recorded artifacts proved so powerful post-event
● We ran a retrospective - to learn & improve for next time
40

41. WHEN?
41

42. 42

43. When is the best time?
● Discovery – *Design Sprint – Alpha – Beta – Live
● We advise before development starts, but after some basic insights have
already been gathered
● Avoid having existing live service bias
● Don’t start at very beginning without any background knowledge
● When you can ensure the attendance will include the right people
43

44. WHY?
44

45. 45

46. Why do a design sprint?
● Experiment
● Rapid progress
● Prove a good/bad idea before it’s too late
● All about focus - more focus will provide better output
46

47. “It’s a ‘greatest hits’ of
business strategy,
innovation, behavioural
science and design”
47

48. “It’s not just about
speed. It’s about
momentum, focus, and
confidence”
48

49. 49
Thank you!

50. ANY QUESTIONS?
50

51. Further reading
Google Ventures: Design Sprint
http://www.gv.com/sprint/
Some examples of different types of maps:
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-mapping-cheat-sheet/
Recommended rapid prototyping tool
https://marvelapp.com/
All GIFs kindly sourced from:
https://giphy.com/
51

52. 52