Whether you are planning to begin working as a facilitator or got your first project as a facilitator, it’s important the know phases of a design sprint. The facilitator has to pass through these phases every single day throughout the journey.
Table of Contents
Design sprint phases
The Facilitator, together with the team, has to pass through the 5 design sprint phases. These are;
- Exploration phase
- Sketch phase
- Decision-making phase
- Prototype phase
- The validate phase
Exploration phase
Just as expected, the Facilitator first has to explore and get the basic idea to kick-start the design sprint activity. At the beginning of the design sprint exploration phase, the facilitator engages himself in a structured discussion with the team and focuses on planning things out.
Soon after the structured discussion, the facilitator and the team engage in a more meaningful discussion with the experts. This discussion is usually not that long, the experts share their knowledge and experience and the team focuses on developing a shared brain. What the facilitator has to do in the process is capture all the necessary information to help the team to have a better understanding, and find and target the manageable part of the problem. That’s how the first phase ends for the facilitator.
Sketch phase
The second phase is referred to as the sketching phase. This is the most important phase of the whole process, in this phase the action plan is developed. The sketching phase starts with translating ideas into tangible solutions. The team comes up with a perfect plan by adding new features or redesigning the whole project. The team actively works on translating ideas, adding new features, and coming up with the perfect plan, the facilitator’s job at the beginning of this phase is that he has to encourage the team to keep brainstorming and planning things out.
As the sketching phase moves ahead a little, the brainstormed ideas are reviewed, ideas are designed on paper, variations are considered, and a detailed solution is planned. The facilitator at this point stimulates further ideation with the help of templates. The sketching phase ends by notifying the customers to be a part of the testing phase.
Decision-making phase
In the decision phase, the facilitator does not have to do much as the solid plan is developed. A voting strategy is used to pick up the best solution. The phase ends with implementing the solution to the storyboard.
Prototype phase
The Prototype phase is the day to test the hypothesis. At the beginning of the prototype phase, the main focus is on developing a realistic prototype to test the user and finish the whole process in one day. By the end of the prototype day, the schedule for the test is confirmed, the interview script is developed and things are finalized.
The validation phase
This is the final phase, each participant contributes in this phase. On this day, the prototype is tested, and feedback is obtained to make improvements. When the validation phase comes to end, the solution is finalized.
