6 Tips for virtual design sprints

Over the past year my team has done what almost every design and research team has had to do — adapt to a fully remote world. As part of that, we had to figure out how to make our design sprints 100% remote.

Prior to COVID, our team was mostly co-located in one office, with a few distributed members and a smaller team at another site, so we had some experience doing hybrid sprints. We were normally lucky to be able to do most sprints in person, with many people traveling for the sprint or a few folks joining remotely as a worst case scenario.

Over the past year going fully remote forced us to adapt and learn quickly, and now as we cross over the year mark of being fully remote, we’ve done over a dozen sprints and workshops and have learned what works best for us. There’s obviously a wealth of (virtual) sprint resources out there, but here’s a few personal tips and takeaways from what has worked best for us over the past year. As we hope to get back together in person later this year, and likely find some hybrid mix in the future, these are learnings we hope will continue to be useful.

1. One size doesn’t fit all

We used to follow a pretty well trodden path, following some version of the GV Design Sprint or a modified version when we only had a few days (normally saving prototyping and research for later). However, when we went fully virtual we found that we couldn’t always get everyone together for a full week or even a few days. Not to mention time zone differences with more people working in different places and more varied schedules as many people had to deal with childcare or other responsibilities.

We had to learn how to work more asynchronously and timebox efforts more closely, and as a result we realized we could be much more nimble and tailor the sprint to the size and scope of the problem more precisely. In the past year we’ve broadened our definition of what a sprint can be, and now we have everything from design “jam sessions” that last a few hours, to half-day and full-day workshops, and of course still the occasional classic sprint.

Idea to try:

• Adding stricter timeboxing — a series of half day workshops for example — adds some urgency for the group to get more creative and productive in a shorter amount of time. With some advance planning (see below) you can also get everyone to think about the problems more deeply individually before you get together.
• Tailor the time and format to the scope and definition of the problem. Well scoped problem areas may need less time than a traditional sprint and may fit into a few hour workshop. Problems with lots of ambiguity may require more interspersed “jam sessions” where everyone has asynchronous exploratory time.

2. Preparation is (even more) critical than ever

Yes, prepping is critical for any sprint or collaboration session, but it’s even more important for a virtual sprint. That means making sure you have a crystal clear agenda and sprint materials prepared and circulated in advance. Leave nothing to chance, because if something can go wrong it probably will. Make sure to prepare all video and audio components and test them in advance, plan the sprint agenda and pacing, even think about when to give people email/bio breaks, and always account for some wiggle room.

Idea to try:

• Think about how to prepare for and foster discussions and activities that may not come as naturally in a virtual setting, and were better suited for post-it notes and white boards.
• Research and plan the best tool for your group, and how to make it as collaborative as possible. For our team, we’ve relied heavily on Figma and Mural to foster a deeper sense of collaboration, mimicking post-it note and crazy 8 templates, as well as dot voting on our project boards.
• Make sure people feel clear on basic logistics — where specifically should they be working within a doc, or Figma or Mural project (or other tool of choice), and how to collect/organize/vote on explorations and ideas.
• Don’t be shy about assigning prep work, asking people to read/watch and write down ideas in advance to get the most out of your time together.

3. Commit to zero distractions

Something that has challenged all of us while being virtual is the growing potential for distraction. Since we’re not sitting together in person, we’re not observing the same social norms, like not checking email and chat, or futzing with our phones while collaborating. Not to mention the distractions of being at home, whether it’s a pet, child, partner or delivery — distractions are everywhere and intentional focus takes commitment.

When you get a group together for sprints, commit to zero distractions. If you’re going through the trouble of trying to get people to come together for a common purpose on a short timeline, the least you can do is give yourselves the gift of the most focused creative energy possible.

Idea to try:

• Set clear ground rules from the start, like committing to closing email tabs, putting phones on silent, and asking people to keep cameras on during active discussion.
• For those that want to go the extra mile, ask your team to put their phones out of sight and reach (not facing down on their desk or in their pocket, but physically away from their work space to avoid even the smallest temptation of distraction. Just having a phone sitting nearby, even face down, can be distracting)
• Ask everyone to close their email and chat tools. If you’re brave, you might even challenge people to close or hide an entire browser group so there’s even less temptation for distraction.
• Tell people to spend a few minutes getting their workspace ready — adjusting lighting, getting water and snacks ready, closing a door if needed, or anything else that will help them stay comfortable and present in their workspace.

4. Plan for live and asynchronous work time

For our first few virtual sprints we tried to emulate the feeling of live work time together — the feeling of being in the same studio space exploring ideas, having live discussion, someone playing music in the background, etc… And while the goal was a good one, it didn’t quite work for most of our early sprints.

Having the camera on while you were staring at your screen exploring an idea, with everyone on mute, just felt…a little funny. So we iterated on our process, making sure to keep the feeling of togetherness for certain moments — starting days with music, cameras on and small talk, and then moving into focused sprint work. We had cameras on for focused discussion time and “virtual whiteboarding” and then signed off for asynchronous exploration for a specific amount of time until we regrouped.

Idea to try:

• Build in time for different modes with specific expectations around how the group will engage — shared learning time (someone presenting data or a readout) where people should be watching live but cameras are ok to be off, live discussion mode (cameras on), divergent exploration time (signed off or cameras off), converging discussion and alignment (using a digital whiteboarding tool).
• Plan for plenty of solo work time, letting people turn off their cameras or exit the video call altogether. This is especially helpful for teams that are on different timezones or when schedules don’t match up for a full day of sprinting together.
• Setup a chat room or Slack channel for people to bounce ideas and share when they’re not together to keep an open communication channel.

5. Bring the extra spirit

We all have some serious Zoom fatigue after the past year. And doing a sprint requires a special kind of creative energy — an openness to breaking out of normal patterns of thought and ideas. So when we started getting together for virtual sprints and seeing moments where energy was waning, we started getting creative with how to bring more fun and spirit into the process.

Ideas to try:

• Yes, we tried our fair share of icebreakers and games, but some of my favorite ideas that I observed were just simple goofy moments in the sprint, like asking everyone to share a funny random GIF or recent YouTube/TikTok/IG favorite throughout the day (eg: right after lunch everyone share a gif of how they’re feeling).
• Try a virtual “hi five” where everyone puts their cursors together in Figma or Mural over a hi-five circle. This was an instant favorite for our team, getting everyone to smile and laugh no matter how they were feeling before.

6. Over communicate everything

One of the biggest things I took for granted before going fully virtual was the ease in which I could communicate in realtime with everyone. I have a go-with-the-flow approach most of the time, and even with strong planning there’d be something I’d always forget or want to change in real time. What I learned quickly running my first virtual sprint last year was that everything — and I mean everything — had to be clearly communicated in realtime. Leave nothing to chance.

Ideas to try:

• Create both an email group and chat room for your core sprint group, as well as the extended group of stakeholders and people you’d like to stay informed. Use them as often as you need to communicate any changes to the schedule, agenda, or just to reinforce the next step for extra clarity. Your sprint participants and stakeholders will thank you.
• Keep a running sprint agenda doc or deck where you can make updates and notes for your sprint group, which is especially helpful for asynchronous sprinting or if someone has to duck out for a bit.
• Send out daily recaps and morning briefings to keep everyone clear on what’s been accomplished, what to expect going forward and what may have changed in real time. This will also help make sprint synthesis go faster at the end.