Solving a problem as fast as you can (30 minutes)

Goal: Practice trying new ideas and iterating through them, gathering feedback and making improvements until you are happy with the outcome.

In pairs, you will work on two different problems

1. Each individual will pick a problem to solve from the list below.
2. Take no more than 5 minutes to come up with a way to solve it. There is no silly solution so don’t be afraid to come up with something that may even sound funny. The idea is to do this as quickly as possible.
3. Then share the solution with each other and spend no more than 5 minutes gathering feedback. Remember, your partner will be the user of your solution so walk through the journey a user would go through when using it. What is good and what is not so good about it? What’s missing? How could it be better? 
4. Refine your solution using the feedback collected. Again, do not spend more than 5 minutes. 
5. Share it again to gather further feedback, repeating step 3
6. Do this process as many times as you can during 25 minutes.
7. Finally, spend 5 minutes discussing your experience following this process.

Problems

• Problem 1: A company called SuperShoes is trying to find new revenue streams. They sell their shoes in brick stores as well as online. One idea they are exploring is the ability for customers to customise their shoes online when ordering them. Your job is to either further develop this idea or come up with a totally new one. Feel free to draw your vision on a piece of paper if you think that will help you explain it to your partner when gathering feedback. 
• Problem 2: A social media company called SuperSocial runs a site that aims to show events and news happenings in neighborhoods. Recently they are noticing a drop in user engagement. Users are not visiting the site as often and when they do, they are not spending much time on it. The company is trying to look for ways to keep users entertained for longer. Your job is to look into new things that could keep users engaged. It could be a new type of content, maybe adding games or maybe creating a new rewards program based on users’ interactions and contributions on the site. Feel free to draw your vision on a piece of paper if you think that will help you explain it to your partner when gathering feedback.

Practice idea generation (30 minutes)

Goal: Learn how to generate many ideas in a very short period of time by following the “Crazy 8’s” Design Sprint method.

Form groups of 4 or 5 people. Chose one of the problems below and follow these steps. If you have time do a second round with the other problem.

1. Grab a piece of paper
2. Each team member folds their piece of paper and fold it into eight sections
3. Set a timer for eight minutes
4. Individually, each team member sketches one idea in each rectangle, trying their best until all sections are filled
5. When the timer goes off, everyone puts their pens down
6. Each person now presents their top two or three ideas, out of their whole Crazy Eight matrix, to the group.
7. Now everybody votes for their two favourite ideas (do not vote for your own).
8. Pick the top idea with the most votes and discuss as a group for 5 minutes how to make it even better.
9. Finally, discuss as a group your experience through this process.

Problem 1

Your team need to design a user interface for an employee directory for your company. The user story: As an employee, I can find out who is who in my organisation so I know who to contact about particular projects or topics. Generate lots of different designs for what this might look like.

Problem 2

Your child has a new hamster that is very acrobatic and gymnastic. For her birthday, you want to build a hamster gym. The user story: As a 10 year old, I want some fun obstacles that my hamster can play with so I can make TikTok video. Generate lots of designs for inexpensive hamster play equipment.

It’s important to remember that the ideas do not have to be great. This exercise is about quieting the inner critic and giving our creative impulses space to flourish. Weird, impossible, and impractical ideas often give way to truly inspired ones. It’s called Crazy 8’s for a reason.