PROJECT OVERVIEW
This project is an eLearning module built in Articulate Storyline accompanied by a job aid that trains design leads on how to structure and prepare for a design sprint.
Course Title: The Essential Guide to Facilitating a Design Sprint: Structure & Preparation
Training Objective: Design team leads will be able to choose an appropriate problem for a design sprint, then structure the week, invite the correct participants, and draft an informational brief.
Programs Used: Articulate Storyline, Audacity, Adobe InDesign.
Experience the eLearning course.
View the job aid.
Problem Context
The fictionalized company Granularity is a design company consulting with businesses to solve design problems with solutions rooted in big data. The team of designers and doers at Granularity need options in processes for solving big design challenges. The design sprint, a process developed by Googler Jake Knapp in the early 2010s, is a workshop-style framework for developing viable options for design problems. This course, the first of a series in how to facilitate a sprint, will teach design leads and project managers to identify the appropriate situation for a design sprint, gather a cross-functional team, and set a schedule for success in solving their design problems.
Solution Journey
The initial problem - teaching design leads and project managers how to facilitate a design sprint - was daunting. Breaking the process into chunks made each step more achievable. A learner will only be able to absorb a limited amount of information before they are overwhelmed. Instead, they need smaller chunks followed by application. Therefore, I divided the process of facilitating a design sprint into manageable, trainable chunks that would lend themselves to immediate application.
For the first section, the course I designed on Structure & Preparation, I focused on the objectives of identifying appropriate problems, setting the schedule, and selecting participants. I also wanted the learner to be able to immediately apply this information by selecting a potential design challenge and inviting participants, so I added training on how to draft an informational email to brief participants on the process.
Successive courses would train the learner to finalize organization before facilitating the course, so I designed a job aid checklist that would give the design sprint organizer a step-by-step plan of attack to lead them up to the event.
The checklist is designed to print on letter-sized paper for easy reference.
Results & Evaluation
If Granularity had implemented the design sprint process as taught in the course, it is likely that the company would have experienced increased efficiency and productivity in their design process. The identification of appropriate problems, selection of participants, and setting of a schedule would have facilitated a more streamlined and focused approach to design problem-solving. Additionally, the job aid checklist provided in the course would have given organizers a clear plan of action to follow, leading to increased confidence and competence in facilitating a design sprint. Although no actual data was collected for this fictional case study, it is reasonable to assume that implementing the design sprint process would have resulted in improved design outcomes and overall success for Granularity.
