Workshop Instructions
How to rUN A Workshop to Get Feedback:
1) Choose team roles.
Everyone is a Designer, but you’ll want to assign a Design Lead, who will keep the group on track, and a Note Taker, who will record group conversations.
Decide on these roles now. Ensure that young people who are participating are given the chance to take these roles, if they want.
2) Develop a testing plan.
As a group, discuss and decide your answer to the following questions:
- Who are the testers you will need to talk with to better understand how your idea will work?
- Where will you find those people and how will you arrange 15 minutes to test with them?
- How will you describe your idea and the problem that you want to solve?
- What do you most want to learn about your idea and prototype? Are there any specific questions you want to ask testers?
Note Taker: Record the group’s responses to each question—this will be your testing plan.
Design Lead: Help keep the group on track to finish the discussion in 30 minutes. If everyone has a lot of to contribute, have people write their answers on sticky notes and share them that way.
3) Pair up.
Testing works well when designers pair up. Decide on groups of two who will go out together and interact with testers. Each pair should grab a “Testing tip sheet” to bring along. The tip sheet will guide you through the testing process.
4) Test the prototype and document feedback. (15 min)
It’s time to go out and test! In pairs, show the prototype to a tester. Use the Testing tip sheet to guide your discussion.
Depending on your testing plan, this might mean the group comes back together in half an hour to review results, or at a later date.
This is what the Feedback Grid looks like before you begin using it.
Pro-tip: 7 minutes to interact with the prototype and 7 minutes to provide feedback is often enough to gain valuable feedback to help evolve the prototype.
Document the tester’s feedback using a Feedback Grid. Keep these in a safe place until you return to share them with the group.
Pro-Tip: Always capture what you heard and learned by taking notes or snapping a quick picture.
5) Repeat step 4 with another tester. (15 min)
Repeat the process with different people. Your prototype will become more refined (e.g. from a sketch, to a fairly accurate model of the idea), and your testing can become more refined as well (e.g. from talking to a person about the idea, to having users of the idea interact with the model). This repetition means you’re answering high-level questions like “Do people actually want this?”, before you invest too much effort in the details like “Should this button be orange or green?”
6) Assemble the group to review and discuss feedback. (30 min)
Before sharing, review the feedback grid notes to highlight 2–3 interesting points. Have each Designer share a piece of feedback. Continue until all feedback has been shared.
Pro-Tip: You can adapt your prototype as you go, or record what changes you want to make in the future.
7) Reflect
Note Taker: remember to jot down the responses of the team—reflections are often where some of the best learnings come to light.
Design Lead: Read these questions out loud to the group and encourage people to share their answers aloud:
- What were some of the things you heard from people during testing?
- What did you hear that was surprising to you?
- Did anyone have any insights while testing with people? What did you learn?
- What will you do differently the next time you seek feedback on an idea?
Congratulations—you’ve tested your idea and gathered feedback!
Design is never done. Check out the Do It Again chapter to explore new problems and ideas, add to your design know-how, or further develop your idea.