How to Conduct a Remote Design Sprint?
Tags: designsprint, remote, remotedesignsprint, facilitation
Published: 2022-12-28 19:59:35

How to Conduct a Remote Design Sprint?

## How To Conduct A Remote Design Sprint?

Design Sprints have been widely recognized as an essential method to attract the attention of many product developers worldwide. A "sprint" in designers' terminology involves time-limited, 5-phase processes that utilize design thinking to minimize ambiguous features when developing new products. Developed as an approach to product design, it is becoming popular among designers and those who work in product development to solve problems. Tell me the reason. That's working. A design sprint's main objective is identifying a particular issue, creating numerous solutions, building prototypes, and gaining rapid user feedback. This can be an effective strategy that helps businesses develop more effective solutions and accelerate innovation.

![Run Successful Remote Design Sprint](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild3530-6165-4930-b534-336638656537/AdobeStock_348295066.jpeg)

## How Can I Run Successful Remote Design Sprints?

Remote Design Sprints often pose a big challenge. In an individual Sprint, the participant will be involved in the training sessions and participate in the training sessions following the following schedule: Monday and Tuesday are workshops. During the day, teams write notes and fill out whiteboards. Prototyping takes place Wednesday, and user tests validate ideas Thursday. The week between Monday and Tuesday is the most demanding day, and it demands more effort to organize the event and support the Sprint. Team members expect that they can clear a calendar and synchronize calendars and remain connected for an extended period which could cause fatigue in certain areas.

## The Design Sprint Methodology

Throughout the past few months, design sprints were adopted by companies as an approach in the context of their Design Processes and became part of Design Methodologies. Airbnb, Uber, and LEGO are just two of many big players in integrating design sprints into product development workflows. It was my response the first time I read a book called Sprint: How to Solve a Big Problem Using a Simple 5-Day Plan." I'm amazed. If you spend a decade designing products, you know that that same key question always pops into the design process and is a game-changer.

![Run Successful Remote Design Sprint](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild6233-3165-4566-b364-333838356130/sprint-hero-3.jpeg)

## How Can I Successfully Design With Remote Design Sprint Team Members?

Gallup, a global analytics consulting firm, has found only 9% of respondents will return to work after a pandemic. 42% say it's a good choice between working from home and working from home, while 37% prefer to stay completely isolated. It seems that the population enjoys remote jobs. You can also see remote design team workers by checking Eleken's UI & User Interface Agency. Our customers have been contacted remotely from our offices in Buenos Aires for almost two decades, and our staff could not get in touch for two years after the pandemic began.

![Prepare for running Remote Work](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild6366-6166-4166-a237-666663613565/Image_2021-05-02_at_.png)

## Prepare for running Remote Work

Even with major challenges, remote design working does not mean it will be a loss for designers. It's possible to keep your design team together anywhere! You have to learn basic Remote working skills first and do everything you need to be successful.

![Infrastructure In Place](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild3131-6465-4164-a439-326365623163/AdobeStock_193926865.jpeg)

### Infrastructure In Place

At this time, everyone needs reliable internet connections. All home networks have their own devices, therefore. A laptop can help you with a lot of creativity. Get a support team in the IT department to assist you in coordinating the equipment and guidelines your team requires, which are different from those of other design team members.

![Research community example of focus](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild3830-6464-4432-a662-303138663938/AdobeStock_219783719.jpeg)

### Keep Regular Hours

All workers should have the same remote work day to increase efficiency and decrease confusion. If the team is not staffed by different hours, it must adjust accordingly. Aim to avoid scheduled meetings during the overlap of work days to give everyone an opportunity for lunch!

![An iphone with design sprint concept](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild3965-3163-4434-b039-383835653164/iPhone-5C-key-e14080.png)

### Mentally Prepared

While it is best to work from home and not commute to work, doing a remote design sprint preparation each morning is best. It aims at stimulating the imagination, staying productive, and being ready for work.

![a space](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild3033-6236-4534-a663-393734633335/AdobeStock_539003976.jpeg)

### Create Space

Take the time to create a place to work within your house. It helps to have the proper signal for 'working mode' and, if possible, create a desk.

### Improve Team Trust & Bonding

Everyone knows that a project or business's success depends on its people. Working in collaboration can improve confidence, allowing better engagement in the workplace. Having a personal relationship with your team is essential. Apart from discussing projects using the mentioned tool, making time to engage in non-project-related relationships is also critical.

![Team's focus to discuss](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild6234-6533-4232-b865-636666653061/AdobeStock_257118276.jpeg)

## Organize Remote Design Sprint Workshops

Alongside your remote work relationships with the designers and our design sprint team, you also require regular contact with your client. Aiming for an effective solution that helps them reduce their workload is essential to ensuring that their team performs well. Meetings about the work progress of a project are one thing, but remote workshops will help ensure seamless business continuity for your team. Running or hosting a workshop remotely can also be an excellent way to ensure your team members are developing professionally.

![Conversation research](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild3831-3132-4530-a536-666235613836/AdobeStock_231830346.jpeg)

## The Challenges Of Remote Working

Most designers face challenges when building collaborative cultures on remote sites. It could lead to misalignment, especially in response to poorly timed feedback. Often remote designers will believe that if they can design based on the following assumptions, their clients or stakeholders are not satisfied with the result they can expect. Often designers are isolated from the project team, resulting in misunderstandings and chaotic work processes. This becomes even more acute if tasks are not detailed.

## The Challenges Of Running Design Sprints Remotely

The idea for design sprints delighted us immensely. We have that genetic link too! I've got to make them merge. We researched possible solutions, experimented wildly, and inevitably made mistakes.

Eventually, it became a good combination of tools and techniques for small development projects. I want to give you some things that will change your life.

### Challenge: Replicating Hallway Conversations

Often a remote team works together and has multiple opportunities for informal video and other communication. When you walk into a cafe or go to the desk, you greet the other person and have quick opportunity to talk to them, find design sprint solutions or establish relationships.

### Challenge: Receiving Feedback on Designs

Feedback plays an important role during design sprint. A frequent check-in process helps designers avoid going in the wrong direction.

![How To Solve](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild6238-6162-4638-b064-316636313263/AdobeStock_225559967.jpeg)

## How To Solve

### Step One: Overcome Remote Management Challenges

Moving into remote work inevitably results in misinformation regarding tasks and a lack of details. So, you must find and rectify these problems, so things go smoothly.

![A person performing research and UX heuristic challenge](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild3235-3037-4861-a436-396661303666/portfolio-bolt-04.png)

### Step Two: Learn To Handle Remote Design Sprint Feedback

Working remotely booms and subsequent rapid expansion of Collaboration Software tools served design sprint video communication well. It was the worst thing in the past - Remote work requires thinking in mind and a lot of feedback. Imagine that the designer waiting for feedback sees a bubble that says, "Type...". You write a letter, and that sounds like forever. It is just a matter of minutes to think of what you may have missed or something.

#### Organize Regular Video Feedback Sessions

There is the temptation that designers can hide in their UI Cave with their wireframes and mockups and never appear after they've remotely designed their creations perfectly. This is a wrong approach; it could take years and be costly if a designer makes an unintentional error. Eleken designer Maksyme said the best practice in designing is to receive customer feedback as regularly as possible to improve the efficiency of the process. Sometimes, sometimes even every day. It is only an excellent way to know what to do in that direction.

#### Use Emojis When Giving Feedback

Designer Triinu says she can no longer trust facial movements when speaking in person. If you get feedback from a colleague on slack, it might not be easy to interpret since you cannot read the words of someone remotely. Does it make sense if she said okay? What's your feedback? Thank you for the help! Triinu recommends using emojis when addressing the emotional differences in written feedback.

#### Choose A Single Source Of Truth

Occasionally, the designer receives feedback in remote teams from different colleagues. The customer support staff has received a report about a bug after an update. The mixed signals come simultaneously and can make the designer insane until they use an impact/effort matrix to prioritize requests. The following roadmap is organized according to the chosen priority.

### Step Three: Replicate Hallway Conversations

When co-located, critical stages emerge organically. You could share your ideas with someone in an elevator or have user personas discussed during lunch to discuss your own story. The remote mode requires some effort. Communication is very important when you collaborate remotely!

![Remote team working tools - advice company research](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild3861-3965-4761-a561-303834656130/AdobeStock_252637253.jpeg)

## Remote Team Working Tools

For optimum productivity, remote team workers should have access to digital tools and be able to work collaboratively. Working remotely with your fellow designers with the right technical support will become easy.

### Tools for Realtime Collaboration & Brainstorming for design sprints

You need real-time information when you work in nature with primarily visual elements. The aim is to ensure that all people understand the process. You can be working remotely with colleagues to increase efficiency and improve productivity at your meetings. Miro is a browser tool that enables Design Sprint teams to have meetings, discuss a project, or perform tasks in a digital environment. This simple tool helps you make and schedule video conference calls, share whiteboards, and manage projects simultaneously.

### Design team Sprint Progress Tracking Tools

To keep all team members together, it must be available to everyone working remotely on critical briefs. The tools such as Trello, Wrike, or Asana, video conference calls can be used for the technique which have excellent design process and schedule management capabilities. Asana allows you to view the whole Design Sprint project from your perspective while also getting an overview of each task and detail. Similarly, it is helpful if you're using timesheet schedule management software tools like FactoHR or teams time tracking software tools such as Timemetrics for tracking the schedule hours in a Design Sprint team session.

### Security Measures

During a working day, there are security risks. Your Design Sprint information is kept confidential and schedule communication is secure throughout the entire process. Therefore it is highly critical that you and your staff check your network is well-protected and that your antivirus software tools has been updated. Consider a trusted backup solution, as system glitches pose human factors and risks, and malware issues are usually unpredictable. You should find ways to keep track of the Design Sprint password for project data access.

### Knowledge Management Software

Using knowledge management software tools can reduce the challenges of remote Design Sprint teams, such as a lack of knowledge sharing and the development of knowledge silos. Helpjuice provides software that helps people manage their knowledge base by storing, organizing, and process sharing information. It makes it easier for other designers and Design Sprint members to learn what they want to do and improve productivity.

### Virtual Meeting Tools

Video conferencing to replace face-to-face meetings is essential. You can use video communication tools such as Zoom, Slack, Skype for Business, and Google Hangout. Overall, it seems like everyone works well to facilitate remote Design Sprint by videos. Zoom has become an important video communication tool today. It is safe and easy to use and includes voting, breakout room screen share, schedule and much more.

### Communication Tools

It takes a reliable messenger app to keep everyone in contact. Pick a communication channel to follow. You have tools such as TELEGRAM, Microsoft Teams, etc. Remember that success depends on clear video communication tool, and it is fundamental to get the right tools to get the Design Sprint team to use them, whether async or wake greetings, in different time zones.

### Design Subscription: Creative Stock, Templates & More

Getting an Envato Elements subscription can be helpful for your remote Design Sprint team. Elements offer several right tools that can help your team build a project faster. You can create and share collections and mood boards that will help your Design Sprint team develop their strategy and align with your asset list.

### File Sharing Tools

You must have an online storage system that allows tools like Google Drive or Dropbox for the sharing and storage of data between Design Sprint teams and users. The tool can help track what information is shared and who consumes this information.

### Shared Calendar Tools

Use calendar software tool to see what the work of the rest of the world team does as an employee.

## What Are Remote Teams?

Remote teams are professionals from different time zones around the world who work together in the same design process to achieve a single goal. All teammates worked separately in other countries living in different cities.

## What Is The Difference Between Remote And Virtual Teams?

It differs significantly from traditional work-from-home policies that allow employees to work at home a few days or even two times a week. Virtual team members can work in rented office spaces — they work from home, work in any place and utilize coworking.

## What Do Design Teams Do?

Who are the Design Teams? A design team can be composed of fewer or greater designers. The common purpose of a website is to build a mobile app. Design teams formed by team members.

![A sketch done during the Design Sprint](https://static.tildacdn.com/tild6262-3462-4536-b534-323439626135/Frame_1.png)

## Conclusion

Remote Design Sprints have revolutionized Design thinking in design teams allowing makers to create more effective and complex concepts in short time than ever before. Design Sprint Metodology has also been used in UX design, Product design, validating business concepts, making it an increasingly common form of design thinking process. Although it's initially has been used for in-house teams, Remote Design Sprint team can enable many design thinking processes, from product or service blueprints to Branding concepts. With new Design Sprint advances and technologies being developed, Design Sprint will likely continue to be an essential part of Product design and other forms of design.