Free Templates to Keep Your Design Sprint on Track
Like many organizations, Mozilla Firefox has been experimenting with the Google Ventures Design Sprint method as one way to quickly align teams and explore product ideas. Last fall I had the opportunity to facilitate a design sprint for our New Mobile Experiences team to explore new ways of connecting people to the mobile web. Our team had a productive week and you can read more about our experience in this post on the Sprint Stories website.
This year, Google I/O included a panel of Google “Sprint Masters” discussing how they use Design Sprints in their work: Using Design Sprints to Increase Cross-Functional Collaboration. A common theme during the discussion was the importance of detailed facilitator planning in advance of the Design Sprint.
What is the most important thing to do in preparing for a Sprint?
“The most important thing is planning, planning, and then more planning. I want to emphasize the fact that there are unknowns during a Design Sprint, so you have to even plan for those. And what that looks like is the agenda, how you want to pace the activities, and who you want in the room.” — Ratna Desai, Google UX Lead
When I was planning my first Design Sprint as a facilitator, I was grateful for the detailed daily outlines in the GV Library, as well as the Monday morning kickoff presentation. But, given the popularity of Design Sprints, I was surprised that I was unable to find (at the time at least) examples of daily presentations that I could repurpose to keep us on track. There is a a lot to cover in a 5 day Design Sprint. It’s a challenge to even remember what is coming next, let alone keep everything timely and orderly. I relied heavily on these Keynote slides to pace our activities and I hope that they can serve as a resource for other first time Design Sprint facilitators by cutting down on some of your planning time.
These slides closely follow the basic approach described in the Sprint book, but could be easily modified to suit your specific needs. They also include some presenter notes to help you describe each activity. Shout out to Unsplash for the amazing photos.
Design Sprint Daily Agenda Templates
Monday
10:00 — Introductions. Sprint overview. Monday overview.
10:15 — Set a long term goal. List sprint questions.
11:15 — Break
11:30 — Make a map
12:30 — Expert questions
1:00 — Lunch
2:00 — Ask the experts. Update the map. Make “How might we” notes.
4:00 — Break
4:15 — Organize the HMW notes. Vote on HMW notes.
4:35 — Pick a target
Tuesday
10:00 — Lightning demos
11:30 — Break
11:45 — Continue lightning demos
12:30 — Divide or swarm
1:00 — Lunch
2:00 — Four Step Sketch: Notes
2:30 — Four Step Sketch: Ideas
3:00 — Four Step Sketch: Crazy 8s
3:30 — Break
3:45 — Four Step Sketch: Solution sketch
4:45 — Recruitment criteria
Wednesday
Wednesday Keynote Slides (link)
10:00 — Sticky decisions: Showcase and vote
11:30 — Break
11:45 — Concept selection: Evaluate and vote
1:00 — Lunch
2:00 — Make a storyboard
3:30 — Break
3:45 — Complete storyboard
4:45 — Select participants
Thursday
Thursday Keynote Slides (link)
10:00 — Pick the right tools. Divide and conquer.
10:10 — Prototype
11:30 — Break
11:45 — Prototype. Begin interview guide.
1:00 — Lunch
2:00 — Stitch it together. Test run video set-up
2:45 — Prototype demo
3:00 — Pilot interview
3:30 — Break
3:45 — Finish prototype. Update interview guide.
4:45 — Interview preparations.
Friday
9:00 — Interview #1
10:00 — Break
10:30 — Interview #2
11:30 — Early lunch
12:30 — Interview #3
1:30 — Break
2:00 — Interview #4
3:00 — Break
3:30 — Interview #5
4:30 — Debrief