We have reached the third day of Design Sprint in practice!
In the previous article, we talked about the second day of Design Sprint. If you missed it, check out:
And if you want to know more about the theoretical part of Design Sprint as a whole, read our article:
Shall we continue?
Third day of Design Sprint: decide
The third day of the Design Sprint is one of the most tuff.
The day of Decide is what will form the basis for the next two days: Prototyping and Testing. Therefore, it is very important not to divert the focus from this day so that the solution to be tested is not misaligned with the main objective of the Design Sprint.
How should we conduct this stage?
As with every day, it's important to remember What are the objectives and expectations of this Design Sprint process.
This resumption must be done so that the team involved does not lose focus and ends up deciding on a solution that is not aligned with the need for Stakeholder.
Then we can divide this day into two steps: Discussion and improvement of the idea; and voting.
Step 1: discussion and improvement of the idea
After reminding the team of the idea that was selected the day before, it was time to quarrel about this idea with the intention of Perfect it.
Thus, it is important to encourage the team to think about how to improve the idea already chosen, through New Visions; exploring arguments against and in favor of the idea. Always taking care to focus Build and not destroy.
Of course, this exercise is not designed to inflate the idea with irrelevant features and functionalities.
More than that, this dynamic is intended to understand what can't be missing in the solution Why is the expectation of Stakeholder and the user's needs are minimally met and feasible. It's the call MVP — Minimum Viable Product.
However, understanding what is essential or not to insert into the idea of the solution is a difficult discussion. Especially in a Design Sprint where time and assertiveness are essential.
Thus, there are some methodologies that can help you in this moment of understanding what is or is not important to develop in the product. Let's explore some of them:
Reading Tip: Business Design - Why Is It Important to Know About Business?
1) MosCow method
The method MosCow It is a technique of prioritization to be applied to projects.
The name is an acronym for expressions in English:
- Must have (must have to do);
- Should have (it would be nice to have to do);
- Could have (I could have done it);
- Won't have (shouldn't have to do).
In this sense, the technique is used to understand which activities are essential in a project and which are not so important.
Despite being a method of prioritizing activities, it is quite simple apply it to product development.
With the MosCow method you can identify which Features Of your product what are Fundamentals (Must), which are interesting Of having (Should), which are less important (Could) and which They are not important (Won't).
Applying this technique at this time of discussion of ideas is essential in order not to prioritize Features that they bring little or nothing to the user.
2) Kano diagram
O Kano diagram it's very similar to the MosCow method. The purpose is to understand what the characteristics and Features sane Essentials for your product.
However, the Kano Diagram aims to identify, in addition to Features basic, those that are responsible for enchant the user.
Thus, this methodology categorizes attributes into 3 groups:
- Must Have: basic attributes already expected by the user;
- Attributes The more the better: attributes that They improved the experience of the user, but which are not necessarily essential;
- Attributes Enchanters: are the elements that cause Surprise the user, because he didn't expect to receive them. These attributes greatly enhance the user experience.
However, it must be remembered that we are in a Design Sprint process and time is a very scarce resource.
In this sense, if you choose to use the Kano Diagram, keep in mind that Time is short to upgrade your product too much.
3) RICE Matrix
A RICE Matrix It is also a methodology of prioritization that can be used in the development of your product and also in this Design Sprint Decision phase.
RICE is an acronym that stands for:
- Reach (range);
- Impact (impact);
- Confidence (trust);
- Effort (effort).
Each of these steps seeks categorize activities or attributes of a product so that we can identify the priority of each one.
Reach - Reach
In Reach, we estimate How many people will be hit in a given period of time. For example, on a website, there is the idea of implementing a newsletter. The question is to try to quantify how many people will be reached by the newsletter.
Impact - Impact
When we talk about Impact, we tried to estimate what the impact felt by the user. If the idea was to add a button or an attribute to an app, the question is to try to measure how many people will actually click the button.
For this step, it is necessary Measure the impact through numbers, such as:
- 0.25 = minimum impact;
- 0.5 = low impact;
- 1 = medium impact;
- 1.5 = big impact;
- 2 = very high impact.
Confidence
Confidence is about Separate what is driven by analysis and what is driven by enthusiasm. The greater the analytical basis that argues a decision, the higher your level of trust.
- 100% = high confidence;
- 75% = medium confidence;
- 50% = low confidence.
Effort - Effort
The Effort aims to seek Time estimate that each person will have to invest to develop that project or attribute.
Normally, effort is measured in Hours worked.
At the end of everything, placing the appropriate weights for each idea at each stage, we calculated the result of a simple formula:
(Reach x Impact x Confidence)/Effort
The result of this equation will give you RICE value which is the level of priority and importance of the idea put to the test.
The higher the RICE value, the more important your product activity, project, or attribute is.
With the tools and methodologies above, you can improve your idea and discuss with the team how to improve the proposed solution, adding essential attributes to it.
It is important to remember the issue of weather. Design Sprint has a very controlled time, so Look for methods that you are already used to using. That way, efficiency will be greater.
Reading Tip: How does UX Design add value to the business?
2nd step: voting
After the discussion phase and construction of idea/solution improvements, there comes another moment of voting.
This new selection phase is aimed at choose the final product, with all the attributes that are interesting to the user and that will help the Stakeholder to achieve their objectives. This choice will also be the basis for the next stages of Design Sprint: Prototyping and Testing.
In this way, it is necessary create a fair environment for everyone to present their idea. There are people who present better, speak better in public, and are more charismatic. However, the way in which the solutions are presented should not interfere with your choice.
The most important thing here is that everyone on the team is able to have an equal opportunity to argue about their ideas.
With that in mind, we can use some good practices to ensure this neutral environment:
- Allow the Anonymous vote;
- Give the possibility to vote on complementary ideas, not limiting the choice only to a closed solution;
- Remind the team that the Design Sprint process It's not a competition, but a collaborative construction;
- In the end, ensure that everyone is left Satisfied with the chosen idea.
Note that the purpose in this phase is to ensure that The idea chosen is the one that best meets the user's objectives and needs and Stakeholder. Therefore, the facilitator's help is essential to certify that this happens.
What are the most common errors at this stage of Design Sprint?
The third day of the Design Sprint is enough pivotal for the process, as already seen.
It is from it that the next steps are directed, so it is essential to stay focused so as not to make some mistakes.
Therefore, be aware of the following mistakes:
- Misrepresent the objective and the problem: choose a solution that will not add value or will meet the expectations of Stakeholder;
- Facilitator's omission: despite being a neutral role, the facilitator aims to make the discussions flow better. It is not the facilitator's role to omit and let the team take control of the situation;
- Not having empathy: the decision-making process is an uncomfortable process. Some ideas will move forward, others will be blocked. Therefore, it must be clear that the DS process is not a competition and that the important thing is to deliver a valuable solution, built by everyone;
- Don't practice detachment: very much in line with the previous situation, the decision phase requires a lot of detachment on the part of the team.
The list above contains the most common errors, but they are not the only ones.
The Design Sprint process requires a lot practise for you to improve yourself. Therefore, be careful during the processes and always try to learn from each DS that participate.
End of the third day of Design Sprint
Another day of Design Sprint comes to an end.
With this article, we hope you have understood some methodologies that can be used in the DS Decision phase.
In addition, since it is important to have a neutral choice focused on the objectives and needs of Stakeholder.
Now, with the choice of the product and its attributes, we can move on to the next day: Prototyping! Check it out:
