
Schedule of Activities
9:30 AM
Product Review (30 Minutes)
What is the current state of the problem?
During this activity the Dash team will review the current state of the product. If the product is found on multiple platforms, be sure to run through each of them separately. Point out any existing elements that are essential to the future design.
Outcome:
> Visually understand the current state of the product
10:00 AM
Set a Long Term Goal (30 Minutes)
“Why are we doing this Design Dash?”

Think of the Future. Where does you team want the product to be 6 months, 1 year, 5 years from now? The team will think individually and write their idea of the long term goal down. Go around the room and get people to post their ideas on the whiteboard and talk about why. The Facilitator will then begin to organized these ideas into general themes. The Decider will then choose what the long term goal is based on these themes.
Outcomes:
> Understanding everyones assumptions of the future
> Have a goal to work towards during and after the dash
10:30 AM
List Questions (30 Minutes)
“To meet our long term goal, what has to be true?”
Think of the Unknowns. Ask the room, what we need to know but don’t already? Consider any technical limitations. The team will write their questions down on sticky notes. Similar to the Long Term Goal, everyone will then post their questions to the whiteboard and then organize into categories. By the end of the Dash most of the questions should have answers.
Outcome:
> An understanding of the unknowns and potential limitations
11:00 AM
Make a Map (1 Hour)
Map out the best possible solution.
Every story has a beginning (actors), middle (actions), and end (outcome).

Begin by writing the actor (ie. type of user) on the left side, and the goal they want to achieve on the right. Fill in the map by showing all the actions a user will take in the current user flow. If there are multiple platforms, consider how this may change the users end goal.
Outcome:
> A framework for the best possible user experience.
12:00 PM — LUNCH BREAK (1 Hour)
1:00 PM
Ask the Experts (2 Hours)
30 Minute Interviews with the Experts

Remember the Roles you assigned your team members before the Dash? Those members who have an Expert title will be the ones you interview.
> Marketing Expert
> Customer Expert
> Technology Expert
> Design Expert
> Other Experts*
*these are people who are outside of your Dash team but still have expertise in the problem you’re trying to solve
These interviews will be done one at a time with the Facilitator in front of the Design Dash team. The Facilitator should ask the Experts about: their vision, if they were involved in any previous efforts, if they have done any customer research, and how the product works.
As the Experts are talking, the rest of the group should be writing How Might We notes. “What are How Might We notes?”
Begin by writing HMW on the top on each sticky. When you hear something interesting, rephrase what you heard into a question. These notes will be used as inspiration later for our sketches.
Outcome:
> Have a high level understanding of the problem from all perspectives
3:00 PM
Organize and Vote (1 Hour)
Prioritizing opportunities.
The team will begin by posting their sticky notes on a wall. The Facilitator will begin reading out stickies, and as they are reading the team will begin to group any related notes they made.
Once you have grouped all the HMW notes into general categories, the team will then vote on which they think provide your users with the most value and are inline with your long term goal. Each person gets two dots. The Decider gets 4 dots.
After the team has dot voted you will move the winners to an appropriate place on the map.
Outcome:
> Understanding what is essential to create the best possible user experience
4:00 PM
Pick a Target (30 Minutes)
Giving the Dash a focus.
The rest of the activities in the Dash will be focused on this target, from sketching solutions, creating a prototype, to finally user testing.
The Decider should select a target based on:
> Who is the most important actor?
> What is the most critical moment of their experience?
> Where is the biggest opportunity to do something great?
Once the target is selected, the Decider is also going to review the Questions and see which ones relate to the target. The Questions that relate to the target selected will be the ones you hope to answer by the end of the sprint
Outcome:
> A clear target to focus on for the rest of the Dash
Your Homework
Competitive Analysis
Everyone’s homework for the evening is to do research on the industry and your competitors. This research does not have to be limited to direct competitors. If you are able to find a solution being used for a different purpose, still feel free to bookmark the idea.
👩💻 This is the GV: Design Sprint methodology
For more info on Google Ventures and their process, see the link below.
