Design sprint tips from 7 facilitators at Booking.com
Would it surprise you to know that Booking.com has been running design sprints for nearly half a decade? Our first design sprint was run in 2016 for our Attractions product by our former design director, Stuart Frisby.
We’ve learned so much since then, and our sprint community just keeps growing and growing. We reached out to some of our facilitators and asked them one question: “What’s the top thing a new sprint facilitator should know?”
Prepare in advance and set up expectations
Nicolas Brizuela is a UX designer and has facilitated design sprints across the company.
Preparation is key to run a smooth design sprint, and I always try to start with these steps:
- Stakeholder interview. Start by talking with the stakeholder(s) of the project, and clarify why they want to run a sprint. If they don’t know — don’t run it.
- Problem Statement and Sprint Goal. Based on the talk that you had with the stakeholder(s), you can define the problem to tackle and the sprint goal. We usually use the following problem statement as a reference: [Quote] “We have observed that [product/service/organisation] isn’t meeting [these goals/needs], which is causing [this adverse effect]. How might we improve so that our product/service/team/organisation is more successful based on [these measurable criteria]?“
- Exercises. With a better understanding of the problem and goal, you can prepare some examples of HMW, Sprint Questions and a draft of the Map.
- Expectations: Be sure to onboard all the participants and explain why you are doing a design sprint and the expected outcomes. That’ll help you set up some expectations in advance and clarify the design sprint process.
Dry-run’s make your sprint run smoother
Chris Micek, lead designer with over six years in Booking.com. He regularly creates and facilitates custom workshops and design sprints for the teams he leads.
I love playing with the sprint process: tailoring the output, timeline, and activities to meet my team’s specific needs. However, breaking away from the standard process can lead to unintended consequences and reduce the likelihood of your desired outcome.
It’s helpful to perform a ‘dry-run’ of any new process or activities with a small group. You can get an understanding of what to expect from the eventual participants and identify any weaknesses in advance of the sprint. Then, members of your test group can participate in the sprint and provide lightweight facilitation if there are any breakout activities.
Familiar tools FTW
Jeri Bowers is a lead designer, bringing in previous experience in design thinking and leading various workshops and design sprints in her teams.
Google Slides (or another cloud-based presentation tool) works great for ideation and it doesn’t require any special permissions or set up. You can easily add descriptions to structure the exercise and participants can upload screenshots of their sketches. The main advantage is that everything’s already captured in a digital format that’s easy to use and reference later.
Make everyone feel valued
Miranda Slayter is a lead designer and has been championing user-centric design and design sprints there for the past three years.
Make sure everyone feels included. I find this a lot with “non-designers”: that they don’t feel like they can contribute — but if you encourage that “everyone” is a user at the end of the day, it helps people feel that their input matters.
I sometimes ask, “Have you ever used something that you found frustrating?” or “have you ever been surprised when something is super easy?” Those are the types of reactions we’re after.
It’s sometimes good to say, “today, don’t think of yourself as a developer, project manager or whatever — think of yourself as someone who would be using this product.”
Go that step further with your virtual whiteboard
Josefina Monsegur is a lead designer. She has been leading design sprints and design thinking trainings (especially user maps) along with leading the design team in that area.
When running a remote sprint, set up your virtual whiteboard as simple and clear as possible. The way in which you structure and organise it is key to guide the participants smoothly through the process.
Focus on the exercise at hand
One good thing to do is to hide the exercises that have not started yet. This will avoid distractions and anxiety towards what’s coming next while helping them focus on the current exercise.
Leave no doubts about the exercise
Another thing to do is to repeat the instructions for each of the exercises on the board. This will reassure them of what they need to do in case they feel lost at any point. You can also add the timing of each exercise or other details that you consider important. Remember to keep the balance between using this to reinforce focus and not lose it by over-explaining it.
Trust the process and be flexible to change
Thomas Meimarides is a lead designer and co-created the design thinking training courses and materials for designers and product managers at Booking.com. He has led sprints and workshops across global offices and products.
Sometimes a sprint isn’t the right context or process for the task. Help your stakeholders to understand the outcomes they actually need and determine if a tested prototype is really what they need.
Use your expertise to guide the process and expected outcomes before undertaking a sprint. Highlight the benefits and drawbacks of the many types of activities that would happen during the sprint.
As the facilitator, remember to be flexible with your own plans and processes to help ensure the group achieves the desired outcome, even if you end up modifying the agenda.
Share your learnings with everyone
Robbie Farrell is a UX designer and has co-created design sprint and design thinking trainings in Booking.com.
After a design sprint, we recommend putting two specific documents together.
The first of those, The Sprint Summary, captures the output of the workshop to share with stakeholders. This is important for keeping stakeholders aligned on the ideas the team chooses to move forward with and the direction of the project. This report is typically created by the sprint team.
The second, The Facilitator Reflection, captures how the sprint was run — but most importantly it covers what did and didn’t go well. This report is typically created by the facilitator themselves. I’d recommend sharing this document with your internal design groups for fellow facilitators to read. The benefits of this report are:
- Exposing more people in your company to sprints, and their benefits
- Facilitators can learn what did and didn’t work from other sprints and find ways to improve their own
- Building a like-minded community
So there you have it, seven tips from seven Booking.com facilitators on how to improve your design sprints.
We’ve learned a lot in the past few years, and there’s lots more to share. Feel free to ask questions or share your own tips in the comments below and check out the rest of our design articles.
Shout out to Chris, Jeri, Miranda, Josefina and Thomas for sharing their tips. As well as Leif Parker and Steven Baguley for providing feedback on the article and getting it over the finish line.
Thanks for reading,
Robbie & Nicolas
