How to run 18 Design Sprints at the same time
What we learned from running Design Sprints at an accelerator
We ran 18 Design Sprints simultaneously. Yes 18! At the same time, in parallel. It was both insane and super cool. I’d like to share some lessons about ‘how to’ organize this in case you want to tackle a similar challenge.
Last October 2019 we had a great adventure in Beirut, Lebanon. We were asked to run a Design Sprint as part of an Agrytech accelerator program. Where we usually run dedicated Design Sprints for corporate organizations around the globe, this was a cool challenge that we happily accepted.
Running 18 parallel Design Sprints… How did we organize this? In this article I will share how we approached it, what we did and share our learnings. Also I’ll share some tips & tricks for companies or accelerator programs who want to run multiple Design Sprint at the same time.
The request. How this all started
In August, Margriet and I are hiking in Iceland and I got some WhatsApp messages. They are about an opportunity to run a Design Sprint in Lebanon for an accelerator program in Lebanon.
The Question? Are we able to run a Design Sprint? Yes, of course we love to. There was only one catch, could we run 18 Design Sprints and how would we approach this?
I love a challenge, so I got to think about the best way to set it up. Luckily some support was arranged. It wouldn’t be just one facilitator running this, but multiple Sprint Masters were involved. My co-founder Margriet Buseman and Hany Rizk #NoBSstudio were part of this journey. Together with active members from the accelerator organizing team.
The accelerator program is focused on helping entrepreneurs from all over the country to develop and build their business. The kick-off to the program, will be a Design Sprint. What better way to let teams explore customer testing and validation, making ideas more concrete and experiencing teamwork than with a Design Sprint?
Our preparations
The three of us immediately knew we needed a different set up than a regular 5-day Design Sprint. Having run run over 85 Design Sprints together with Margriet, I know you can’t run 18 Sprints simultaneously just like that. You need to make some practical as well as process changes.
Margriet and I have run over 85 Design Sprints and know you can’t run 18 Sprints simultaneously just like that.
Our plan
- Run a ‘classic’ 5 day Design Sprint so that there is enough time for questions during the days.
- To control the noise: 3 rooms with 6 teams each.
- Teams should come in with about 3–4 people and arrange their own designer for prototyping.
- Per room there is one lead facilitator to lead the structure and process.
- Per room there will be a co-facilitator to help with questions and coaching.
- There is someone available to run between rooms in cases of emergency, eg. printing, coordinating lunch ;).
- User testing will be done by the teams themselves and be given an interview Masterclass on day 4.
- Teams are free to interview over the phone, in person, or ‘on the street’. As long as they were able to show their prototype and hear the opinion of their future end-users.
Extra preparations
- We created a document that outlined all design Sprint steps. Why? When teams fall behind or missed part of the instructions, there would be enough information for them to continue the process.
- We usually run Design Sprints without a slide deck to engage with teams. This time we prepped a slide deck so that everyone knew where we were. Next to each slide as a BIG digital timer so that everyone also knew how much time was left.
- We wanted to close down the week with all teams together, like a stakeholder demo but in this case more like a party with about 70 people.
The moment of truth: 18 Design Sprints simultaneously
In October 2019 we flew to Beirut and met the local team of the accelerator program and our co-lead facilitator Hany, for the first time in real life. It was our second time in the city, so we knew our way around. Beirut is an amazing, a cosmopolitan city with great museums and of course great food. Not a bad place to spend a few days. Some final preparations and we’re all set to go.
On the first day of the Sprint we met about 50 enthusiastic future entrepreneurs eager for their accelerator journey. 18 teams with great ideas, but ideas (and problems) that were not always concrete nor validated.
It was great to meet so many enthusiastic, passionate future entrepreneurs in one single week in one single place.
It was great to meet so many enthusiastic, passionate future entrepreneurs in one single week in one single place.
How we ran 18 sprints simultaneously, practical details
The location:
- The venue was a big enough to have 3 separate large rooms where 6 teams fit. There was a large common area for lunch, snacks and mingling.
- In a typical Design Sprint set up, we would use an entire room to visualize all output. In this case each team claimed a piece of space on the wall to keep their Design Sprint output visual. We provided templates for the different exercises so that everything was kept as neat as possible.
- All catering was outsourced.
Sprint Master(s) & challenging teams:
- The lead facilitator facilitates 6 teams in his/her room through all exercises. As in the typical Design Sprint, they explain per step, what we’re going to do, how to do it and why it is important.
- Each morning we held a short standup for all lead facilitators and co-facilitators. Mainly to get everyone on board. Hear updates and to be able to ask questions.
- After the initial explanation both the lead facilitator and co-facilitator(s) go around the room to check-in on each team. By going around the room, we could be helpful in challenging the teams and answering specific questions. Attention is different than when you have a dedicated facilitator, but this still worked!
- It was important for us to check whether teams actually decided upon a direction at each of the steps. It was our key to moving to the next process step
Assumption mapping
- On day 4 of the Design Sprint we provided a template to fill in the assumptions (learning goals) that the teams were testing. We gave this extra attention because we were not with the teams during interviews. So it was important that they understood what they were testing and wanted to learn.
Interviews
- Interviews on Friday were done by the teams themselves. Some teams journeyed to visit farmers in the far corners of the country, while others interviewed via the phone. They all was showed their prototypes to their customer to hear their honest reactions.
- After the interviews they filled the assumption list (Excel) and wrote down their main insights.
Friday afternoon
- We wanted to end the Design Sprints with a celebration and BBQ. Where during short pitches each team could share their prototype and top interview learnings. Unfortunately, we were not able to do this as there has been political unrest in Lebanon since October.
Communication & Documentation
- We used Slack to communicate with the teams. Individual channels per team to share their questions and give feedback and a general slack channel for group announcements.
- Teams documented all step and learning from the Design Sprint. The reason was twofold, for us facilitators to give feedback if needed and also as final deliverable for the accelerator. We prepped a template pptx for them to fill. At the end of each day, the team uploaded their steps (by taking photo’s).
Our key learnings & tips
- One of our key learnings: In this accelerator, the Design Sprint was the very first thing the teams were participating in. Their first week of their 3 month accelerator journey. We think, but we haven’t tested it yet, that the Design Sprint would fit even better in week 2. It would allow us to:
- Have up front conversations with the team. As facilitators we would have loved to have short conversations with each participating team before the actual start of the Design Sprint. In the current set up, the first day was quite hard work for us to understand all the ideas and to understand the precise challenges of the team.
- Share an explanation of the process before the actual start. This helps to set expectations from an early stage. The Design Sprint is and stays a pretty intense 5 days.
- With such a big group you needed to be quite strict about what time to start and end the day. We always told everyone to be in the building one hour before the actual day would start. This way we could really start in time.
- It helps to have teams within a certain domain together in one room. The facilitators are able to give examples that are more lively and precise for their cases. A food or tech related challenge are truly different.
- Teams found it difficult to ‘get out of the building’ and arrange their interviews for the last day. Reflecting on the week, we could have spend more time / shared more information about this from day 1.
- The Design Sprint is great for teambuilding. Next time, we would use more group ice-breakers between teams and have evening activities, at least one night of the week. This way teams can also help each other on their entrepreneurial journey.
- Location & catering is so important. It was great to have a team prepping food and drinks for lunch and the breaks.
- You really need an energetic team of facilitators / co-facilitators. We were so lucky with a team that wanted to deliver an awesome week for the new cohort of teams.
Who should run multiple Design Sprints at the same time?
Wow! What a journey this was. And what an enormous energy this brings to a large group of people.
We think this set up is not for everyone. However, if you…
- Are an accelerator and want to make Design Thinking / Customer centricity part of your program from a very early moment.
- want to have a large group of people to understand the mindset and way Design Sprints work — design thinking made practical
- want to bring a lot of ‘vague ideas’ that have been around the office for years to a next level of concreteness. However as in an accelerator also the weeks/months after the Design Sprint should be thought of and a plan should be in place.
- are an education institution who wants to let students experience Design Thinking in a practical manner
The magic learning experience this week:
- The output: 18 ideas that were born within people’s mind are made tangible with a prototype
- 18 teams that went from ‘a great idea’ to understanding what problem / opportunity they are tapping into.
- 18 teams went through the customer-centric and design-led way of working that is underlying the Design Sprint.
- 18 teams got to experience collaboration in a new way and get to know their co-founders better
But please note:
- With this article I am not saying that all facilitators can and should run multiple Design Sprints at a time
- This set up is for specific occasions (see above).
- It was really quite challenging for us as seasoned facilitators to run a Sprint in this format and give ample attention to teams. We know the power of the Design Sprint and are aware and realistic that you have to make choices in what you can do.
- When tackling strategic projects (in organizations, governments) you will benefit from one dedicated facilitator, a seasoned prototyper and probably a co-facilitator / challenger per strategic topic and one or multiple iteration sprints for that.
- We were super happy to hand over the teams to the awesome crew of the Accelerator program that had lined up a great program and amazing professionals to dive deeper in certain topics that already passed during the Design Sprint.
To conclude..
All-in-all this was one of our highlights of the year. It was great to see so much energy flowing inside the rooms and inside one single building. Teams got triggered, more concrete, made decisions and actually checked their assumptions during their first customer interviews. It was rewarding to work with Lebanese entrepreneurs so eager to learn and grasp the opportunity there are given.
Do we have 18 new business ready to rumble and build their empires? No. There is much more work needed. This was just the beginning. A beginning that immediately made teams think about different aspects of their future company, focusing mostly on ‘should we build this’ instead of how they entered the program ‘how to build this’. A customer focus and getting in touch with users should be part of their business development from now onwards.
Will we do this again? Yes! Anytime. We are super happy that this accelerator wants to continue with this way of working in their program and use Design Sprints over the coming years. We plan to pass on our knowledge and train the local team to run the Design Sprints by themselves. We strongly believe in helping to build this capability in house for accelerators.
We are happy to share more insights or think along if you want to run multiple Design Sprints at the same time. Just send us a message via email or LinkedIn.
Cheers, Robert.
I am Robert Westerhuis. Together with Margriet Buseman we are Orange Minds. Adventurous out-of-the-box do-ers, engaged facilitators, challenging the status quo with humor, energy and years of innovation practice. We have run 85+ Design Sprints globally and countless innovation mindset workshops to get companies moving and adapt a growth mindset.
We are based in Amsterdam & work globally. You can find more about us on our website, Instagram or connect on LinkedIn.
