Wednesday — Decide
M-m-m-morning
Hey hey. It’s humpday already. Time flies when you’re sprinting!
We’d love to see some of the work that you guys are doing. Can you share a Drive folder or some pictures on Slack or something so that we can see what you’re up to?
Today is all about deciding on your ideas from yesterday and turning them into a solid storyboard. So even if you’ve adapted the process a bit, you should still be in a convergent phase right now.
Remember the double diamond from Design Thinking? It’s always a useful tool to help guide your thinking and working. Me and Jon use a similar process we call ‘Thought <> Thing’. Where we spend time walking, talking and dreaming, then suddenly it’s very clear that a thought has become fully developed and we need to turn it into a thing. So we make that thing as quickly as possible.
That leads me nicely to a couple of thoughts for the day…
Thought #1 — Big Picture/Small Picture
One of the main reasons why clients ask flux to work with them, is because we can help them to zoom out and see what they can’t see.
When you’re running a company or involved in a project it’s the easiest thing in the world to get caught up in the day-to-day. To forget about the big picture and go off brief. To just rush forwards instead of stopping and thinking about why you’re doing what you’re doing, and how it will help you to achieve your goals.
Me and Jon do this all the time! We end up deep down rabbit holes and forget why we ever went down them in the first place. I spent a month making this online course over the Summer. Total waste of time in the end. Sure I learned some stuff. But we hadn’t thought about the big picture. We got caught up in the fun of the doing.
Remember to stop. Step back. And think about why you’re doing what you’re doing. You’re probably on the right track. But what if you’re not…?
Thought #2 — Adapting a process to a brief
It sounds like you’ve got a pretty non-typical brief this time. Showcasing the work of the Academy with some video content. It’s much more makey thank previous briefs, and much less conceptual.
I’m guessing you’re straying a bit from the Sprint process? If you are, of course that’s fine. It’s your call. You guys are running the show.
But, a word of advice. I don’t think that means you should abandon the framework entirely. As I said in the intro article, the human brain is lazy and stupid. It wants to take the easy way out. It wants to run thoughts through neural pathways that are well-established. And processes like the GV Sprint are designed to interrupt that, and force them to create new, innovative pathways that lead to original and creative thought.
My advice would be to take the spirit of each Sprint day and make sure you’re sticking to that. Today is all about converging and storyboarding. It’s about getting you guys on the same page and excited about your idea. It’s a tough day where compromises have to be made. But, done well, this day should set you up nicely for a hardcore making day tomorrow.
As always, here’s today’s checklist from the GV Sprint…
Wednesday Checklist
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❏ Sticky decision. Follow these five steps to choose the strongest solutions:
- Art museum. Tape the solution sketches to the wall in one long row.
- Heat map. Have each person review the sketches silently and put one to three small dot stickers beside every part he or she likes.
- Speed critique. Three minutes per sketch. As a group, discuss the highlights of each solution. Capture standout ideas and important objections. At the end, ask the sketcher if the group missed anything.
- Straw poll. Each person silently chooses a favorite idea. All at once, each person places one large dot sticker to register his or her (nonbinding) vote.
- Supervote. Give the Decider three large dot stickers and write her initials on the sticker. Explain that you’ll prototype and test the solutions the Decider chooses.
❏ Divide winners from “maybe-laters.” Move the sketches with supervotes together.
❏ Rumble or all-in-one. Decide if the winners can fit into one prototype, or if conflicting ideas require two or three competing prototypes in a Rumble.
❏ Fake brand names. If you’re doing a Rumble, use a Note-and-Vote to choose fake brand names.
❏ Note-and-Vote. Use this technique whenever you need to quickly gather ideas from the group and narrow down to a decision. Ask people to write ideas individually, then list them on a whiteboard, vote, and let the Decider pick the winner.
❏ Lunch
❏ Make a storyboard. Use a storyboard to plan your prototype.
- Draw a grid. About fifteen squares on a whiteboard.
- Choose an opening scene. Think of how customers normally encounter your product or service. Keep your opening scene simple: web search, magazine article, store shelf, etc.
- Fill out the storyboard. Move existing sketches to the storyboard when you can. Draw when you can’t, but don’t write together. Include just enough detail to help the team prototype on Thursday. When in doubt, take risks. The finished story should be five to fifteen steps.
Facilitator Tip
Don’t drain the battery. Each decision takes energy. When tough decisions appear, defer to the Decider. For small decisions, defer until tomorrow. Don’t let new abstract ideas sneak in. Work with what you have.
~ Any questions, hit us up on Slack ~
