The Six Engagement Phases of a Design Sprint
The Design Sprint Toolkit by Google defines the design sprint methodology in six general phases, or the ‘triple diamond’ approach. These are Understand, Define, Sketch, Decide, Prototype and Validate.
Each of these phases contain a variety of options to get the kind of outcome you and your Sprint Team are looking for. For example, the first phase of the methodology from the Toolkit (Understand) lists 15 different activities to choose from (experience mapping, empathy building exercises), including a few submitted by the Luma Institute (abstract laddering, affinity clustering).
There is another macro layer to constructing a design sprint effort that’s defined at a higher level; engagement phases.
These phases define the overall lifecycle of the methodology and how different actors and roles work together to achieve a design sprints’ final outcome.
Engagement phases normally manifest themselves during kickoff meetings, the construction of sprint briefs or with product release planning. No matter what the scenario, design sprint engagement phases typically require someone to own and/or manage them to keep things moving in the right direction.
Here’s a rough outline of how most engagement phases are defined and executed throughout the lifecycle of a design sprint.
- Inception
This engagement phase is all about inspiration and insight, where any number of ideas can cross your mind about an expensive or interesting problem. Usually the idea (or ideas) you keep coming back to in your mind set the stage for further exploration.
And although it would be amazing if design sprint ideas were implanted into the minds of stakeholders and decision makers in their dreams, they do have to manifest themselves somehow. The good news is that inspiration for a compelling product, idea or challenge can strike at any time. - Socialization and/or Research
Once you have some compelling ideas rolling around in your head, you can go in one of two directions. You can start socializing your idea with those you know, trust and collaborate with… or you can start doing some casual / serious research on the topic. It’ll depend on what kind of person you are.
For example, someone who’s very analytical may want to explore an idea online and look for social proof and/or case studies to validate/invalidate their rationale. Others who are highly social and collaborative may just direct message a good friend or colleague, asking for their perspective and point of view.
No matter the direction, you’re typically trying to establish two things in this engagement phase. The first is satisfying a degree of domain knowledge and understanding on both the idea and the problem it aligns with. The second is a degree of self-awareness and confidence with your ideas that establish the foundation for a solid thesis.
Once both are in play, you’ll start moving towards a plan of action. - Planning
This engagement phase expands the status of the design sprint from a hypothetical situation or structured hypothesis into a plan of action. This phase also signals intent, investment and purpose for both the person organizing the Design Sprint and the various players that play a role in its success.
Depending on the type of design sprint you’re planning on doing, the logistics for getting everything together will vary on a variety of different fronts.
On the human side of the equation, you will probably have to address:
- The person putting their backing and reputation behind the effort
- The stakeholders who adopt the risk/reward for this effort
- The people who should be on the Sprint Team
- The SME’s required to properly inform the Sprint Team.
- The testers you want to interview
- The audience you want to engage with after your sprint is done
- The transition team that adopts what’s produced, moving things forward
On the non-human side, you have a variety of considerations. These include:
- A place to hold your Design Sprint
- A place to hold your user interviews
- Supplies, whether physical (dry erase markers, stickies, post-its, web-cams) or virtual (software, VOIP communication applications, cell phones)
- Food (lunch, snacks, edibles, drinks)
Experienced design sprint facilitators and product managers will also start planning for the rest of the design sprint engagement phases and their corresponding time requirements. While the planning phase requires a lot of work and coordination, the continued relevance and audience for the outcomes of the Sprint should always be top-of-mind. - Execution
If you’ve done due diligence and proper planning of your design sprint, you’ll move towards execution. Each day of the week (or two weeks) will have an agenda with planned activities, actions and conclusions. If all goes well, you’ll have a tested prototype with a collaborative conversation on where it could all go.
While this phase encourages structured, scheduled activities to be conducted in a systematic matter… nothing ever goes according to plan. Some of the best design sprint facilitators shine during this phase, calling audibles and changing activities/schedules to keep efforts rolling along. They’ll also know when to shut down a Sprint if the intended outcomes can’t be met. - Expansion
Once a Design Sprint effort has been executed, its next challenge is relevance. It may have been the most successful Sprint ever done on the face of the planet, but it’ll go nowhere if it doesn’t have plans to expand into the hearts and minds of others who need a reason to care.
If there’s been proper planning done, the organization/stakeholders will have a high level roadmap of how the results from the design sprint will be consumed and integrated into project planning, development and conversations about the work. The Design Sprints’ validation/invalidation of the core challenge, idea or concept would ideally set of a series of events to support these activities.
If planning was an afterthought, the team has a few of options during this engagement phase for expansion:
a. Run a DVF (Desirability, Feasibility, Viability) session with your stakeholders and Decider to explore a path forward.
b. Broadcast the results of your Sprint (through presentations, videos and sharing images taken during the process)
c. Plan an iteration sprint to remedy any mistakes or missteps discovered through testing. Be sure to invite different people for even more perspective and awareness.
d. Organize a code sprint to create a single/double feature MVP with production ready code/testing scripts.
The code sprint option, in particular, is absolutely vital for 0D and voice design projects that need the validation of development, system architects and new tech experts. You’ll likely assemble a brand new Sprint team with different SME’s, but it’ll dramatically expands the visibility/viability of what you’re attempting to do. - Transition
When the artifacts and outcomes of a Design Sprint effort are slowly consumed, adopted or rejected by their intended audiences, you’ve entered the last phase of engagement. At this point, the design sprint effort has reached its natural conclusion. Everyone celebrates, recover, pack up and get back to other tasks and work they need to attend to.
Transition periods also earmark the beginnings of new ideas and concepts, influenced or based on earlier design sprint work. Successful (or even semi-successful) engagements can also provide the foundation for new initiatives and directions for stakeholders to pursue.
No matter which engagement phase a design sprint effort may be in, it’s extremely important to bestow ownership of the engagement model to a particular individual.
I don’t recommend using a typical product owner, since they’ll have their attention drawn to the management of the overall effort.
Instead, I’d recommend either a SME or a stakeholder that can hold the greater team accountable for the stated outcomes of the Design Sprint. The broad scope of influence and awareness make them both ideal candidates to casually track the engagement process a Sprint effort is going through.
What kind of engagement models do you employ with your design sprints? Are they different than the ones I’ve outlined below?
Leave your thoughts in the comments section, and let me know what your experience has been.
