The Design Sprint — Day 5
This is a part 5/5 series of my experience participating in the design sprint as a designer. If you are interested, please read about the rest of the sprint here.
It is Friday! We made it! The design sprint is almost over, and we are ready to test our idea.
Honestly, my feelings were uncertain. I was both excited and nervous. I was looking forward to hearing what Methodites think about our concept. Deep inside, I knew we were on the right track, but there’s always a “what if?”.
Testing.
Nothing survives without feedback. Testing is crucial. At the end of the day, we are not the user. It is easy to think we know what the product is and what people want, especially after putting many hours into work. But we always need to talk to people who will be using the end product to figure out how to shape it better.
How do we test?
- Step one is defining what we want to learn. It is easier said than done. The accuracy of what we want to know will determine how successful the tests will be.
- Step two is understanding how to measure the questions we are asking. Do not ask how the user likes the product. Instead, ask how likely they are to use it.
- The third step is to get away from our biases. Try to screen out questions where you may be leading an interviewee to the answers.
Interviews.
The concept. To solve the current problem and increase the engagement rate, we decided to pursue the idea of collecting cards. Each user will design their card by answering personal/work-related questions. To collect cards from other team members, they will have to communicate.
On Thursday, we worked in two teams. By the end of the day, each team created a scenario. We decided to keep working in teams on Friday to test each scenario and idea with Methodies.
To test the concept, we had six interviews arranged. Before we jumped on the first call, we created a deck of questions we wanted to ask. We had both quantitative and open answer questions.
Examples of some of the questions we asked during the interview:
- How likely are you to use this on a scale of (1–5)?
- What are your initial thoughts on this concept?
- In what scenarios do you imagine yourself using this product?
- Rank the effectiveness of which you think this product would help you engage with others on a scale of 1–5.
During each interview, we had a person assigned to take notes as well as a person to ask the questions and communicate with the interviewee. With each session, we gained more confidence and did not notice how the time flew by. We received a lot of helpful feedback.
It is fair to say that Methodites liked the idea of cards and the database in general. Some of the features were not as compelling, and I am glad we straightened it out before developing anything further.
Once we completed all of the interviews, we got together to discuss the outcomes. We addressed the positive impact of our idea and the areas where we thought we could drill down a little more.
What next?
It was the first design sprint out of many. Now we have to synthesize all of our findings. And the most important, keep ideas flowing! We need to keep going with the process, develop the idea further, and build the end product. We have a very talented team. There is no doubt we will create something amazing!
This is a part 5/5 series of my experience participating in the design sprint as a designer. If you are interested, please read about the rest of the sprint here.
