Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Team Tactics PDF
Team Tactics PDF
Volume I
2.
Read the suggestions at the bottom of each card. You
may find there is another tactic that would be good to
run beforehand, or afterwards.
3. F
ollow the steps on the back of the card.
pipdecks.com/community
Yes
pipdecks.com/teamtactics
Recognition © 2023, Pip Decks
Environment
Get into the teamwork mindset so you are all
setting off together.
Direction
Decide on a clear vision and then work out the
values and principles that will get you there, together.
Support
Make sure your team doesn’t get lost along the way
by giving them the support they need to succeed.
Health
Monitor how your teams are doing so you can see
clearly when your help is needed the most.
Collaborate
Encourage your team to work together to help
them design better teams, products and services.
Communicate
Encourage people to talk about their work, sharing
it early and with clarity to help foster trust.
Recognition
Reward and recognise your team’s, efforts to foster
a culture of appreciation.
Technique
Core tactics to sort, decide, ask good questions and
set metrics.
pipdecks.com/teamtactics © 2023, Pip Decks
Recipe
Build Psychological
Safety
Empower your team to take risks without feeling
insecure or embarrassed.
2.
My User Manual
Learn how the individuals in
your team work best.
3.
Community of Practice
Create a safe space for like-
minded people.
4.
Inclusive Meeting Playbook
Make people feel part of
their meetings.
5.
Daily Sharing
Create a culture of sharing
early and often.
Become
Dependable
Build a strong and dependable team by understanding
its complex web of connections.
2.
Team Circles
Create smaller teams to break down
silos, have better conversations and
shared responsibility.
4.
Productivity Blueprint
Spend more time on high-
value design work, and less
time on low-value tasks.
5.
Agile Comms
Communicate in small doses,
frequently. Show the thing.
Bring Alignment
Connect the dots from vision to execution.
2.
Team Values
Instil values that help you
achieve your vision.
Team Strategy
3.
Help your team make decisions
and give purpose and the autonomy
needed to get stuff done.
4.
Design Principles
Empower your team to make
design decisions in their
everyday work.
5.
Decision Stack
Connect the dots from vision
to execution.
Show Impact
Let your team know the impact they are having.
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Peter Drucker.
Show Impact
1.
Onboarding Retro
The feedback loop to improve
onboarding over time.
2.
Health Monitor
Let the team take an honest
look in the mirror. Monitor
progress over time.
3.
Design Maturity
Understand your team’s level
and where you want to go.
4.
Goal, Signal, Metric
Let your team members know
the impact they are having.
5.
Attrition Rate
Understand if your people are
leaving for the right reasons.
Team Modelling
Model your teams on customer experience. Help remove
the silos that lead to poor services and products.
Run Top Tasks beforehand, as it will help you with the first part of the
tactic. Afterwards, Team Circle to support collaboration.
Team Modelling
1.
Look at the Top Tasks your customers or team have.
2. D
iscuss and group the tasks by user. For example, a
user searching for a product could be a buyer. Somebody
adding a product to the site could be a seller.
4.
Review your map and iterate it until you feel
confident you have every customer journeys covered.
5.
Use the user experience types (Buyer, Seller etc.) to
form Team Circles.
Roles and
Responsibilities
Understand each other’s roles better, and learn who is
responsible for what.
Works well with Team Circles to give a clear picture of how teams
connect. Try Team Modelling before to help shape your teams.
Roles and Responsibilities
1. On your workspace, create a column for each
discipline within the team.
For example: Designer, Developer and Product Owner.
4. In turn – stick up, share and discuss what has been
written down.
Team Charter
Set your ground rules to bond the team and build a
shared understanding and commitment.
Works well with Team Circles to give a clear picture of how teams
connect. Define you Roles and Responsibilities after.
Team Charter
1. Draw the following on a large surface:
Team Circles
Create smaller teams to break down silos, create
meaningful conversations and shared responsibility.
Try running Team Modelling beforehand to help you with the first
part of the tactic. Afterwards, use Agile Comms to help keep your
teams informed.
Team Circles
1.
Invite your team and those who can help
connect the dots of your workplace.
2.
Draw three concentric circles and label
them: Informed, Involved, Core team.
3.
Use the following prompts to plot your team circle:
Core team
• Up to nine multidisciplinary team members focussed on a
shared goal.
• Communication: daily.
• Includes, for example: designers, engineers, project managers.
Involved team
• Up to 12 people from multiple teams who bring specialist
knowledge as needed.
• Communication: as needed with regular progress updates
using Agile Comms or Lean Updates.
• Includes, for example: subject matter experts.
Informed team
• Up to 24 people who connect the dots across the organisation.
• Communication: fortnightly and for changes in direction.
• I ncludes, for example: leadership team, steering groups.
Design Principles
Empower your team to make design decisions with
clear concise principles to apply in everyday work.
For example:
Good: one primary action per screen.
Bad: keep the number of actions per screen to a minimum.
For example: design and test your work with real people.
Participant
name 1
...
5. Ask your team to write a summary for each theme and add it
to their row.
7. U
se prompts from Write in Plain English to write your
final draft, make posters, share in a doc. See how they work
in Design Crits sessions, amend and do a Retro.
Decision Stack
Connect the dots from vision to execution so you can
keep your team aligned.
If you have gaps in your Decision Stack, try: Team Vision, Team
Strategy, Design Principles, OKRs.
Decision Stack
1.
Gather the vision, strategy, principles and objectives from
around your business.
Vision
2.
Sketch out the the Strategy
Decision Stack frame and Objectives Objectives
fill in any gaps you can.
Opportunities Opportunities
3.
Discuss each section using Principles
these prompts:
Vision (Where we are going)
Is it customer centric? Concise and clear? Does it set an
audacious goal? Does it avoid detail?
4. D
ecide who to share your Decision Stack with using
Communication Matrix.
Tip: It’s okay to have Decision Stacks for different teams, although
ultimately they should be aligned.
pipdecks.com/decision-stack Origin: Martin Eriksson © 2023, Pip Decks
Direction 1‒2 hours
Team Vision
Create a shared vision to inspire and give high-level
guidance to your teams.
People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
Your vision should make your team want to get out of
bed in the morning.
“The vision is a stake in the sand with a giant flag on it, big
enough for everyone on the team to see and march towards.”
- Jared Spool.
• If we achieve the above, how will our users feel? (emotion)
Will they be happy, stress-free or satisfied?
3. Y
ou should now have the ingredients to write a
Team Vision. Use your elements of emotion, people,
and the change to build your vision.
4. N
ow say it out loud: does it sound awkward? Revise
it. Memorable? Good. Like a person would say in a
normal conversation? Perfect.
Tip: constantly refer back to and iterate your answers. Store them
in an accessible document. They give clear reasoning and constraints
that support prioritisation.
Lean Wardley
Map
Evolve your team’s practice by finding the most
valuable parts to focus your work on.
3. P
lot each element of your value chain in one of the four
stages of evolution that make sense to you.
Designer
Visible
Complete project
Project brief
Access to
research
Collaborate
with developers
Invisible
Chaos Emerging Common Standardised
Expected failure, Beginning to implement, Implemented and Well defined, stable
poorly understood. progress can be shown being improved and impactful
4. C
hoose a part (e.g., access to research) you’d like to evolve. Use
Force Field Analysis to assess the size of the challenge.
pipdecks.com/lean-wardley Origin: Simon Wardley © 2023, Pip Decks
Direction 1‒2 hours
Try Top Tasks or Lean Wardley Map before to explore what you
can change. Use Get Buy-in afterwards.
Force Field Analysis
1. Draw out this diagram without the arrows (you’ll
add those in with your team).
Forces for change Forces against change
4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4
Your goal
Score: 11 or change Score: 8
2.
Write down your goal or change in the middle box.
5. A
llocate higher scores (using longer arrows) for factors
that have a stronger influence on the outcome of the
project. Score and add up the fors and then the againsts.
6.
Discuss the scores and decide whether to move
forward with the change. Use Who, What, When
to go forward. If you need a new team, use Team
Circles to help form it.
pipdecks.com/force-field Force Field Analysis, 1951 © 2023, Pip Decks
Direction 1‒2 hours
Team Values
While your team vision gives your employees a
destination, your team values help them forge the
path to get there.
Afterwards use Team Charter to share the who, why and the what
of your team.
Team Values
1. A
s a group, discuss the following questions, then
spend 10 minutes individually answering them:
• What values will help us to go further?
For example: our passion to get to the root of our users’ problem has
led to great products.
2.
Use Theme Sort to group the answers by values.
Then Blind Vote to decide the values you’d
like to keep.
3.
Create a grid with your Value name and answers at
the top, and participants down the left.
4.
Ask your team to write a summary for each value in
their row. Use prompts from Write in Plain English.
For example: for the value ‘Customer focussed’ – focus on the user and
all else will follow.
6.
Do a Lean Presentation or Agile Comms to
share widely. Review the values every few months by
doing a Retro.
5.
Together, fill in the How and What of the Why.
How: explain how something is different or better.
For example: Uber – we provide affordable, safe and reliable transport
that creates a dependable income for drivers.
Team Strategy
Help your team make decisions, and give them
purpose and the autonomy needed to get stuff done.
2. H
ow will we create change? List the most immediate tasks
you could do to help.
For example: invite engineers to Design Crits.
3. W
hat will be different once things have changed? What are
two of the benefits (‘whys’) of the tasks you listed?
For example: we’ll spot issues earlier, cutting down on repeat work.
4.
How will this change the course of your team? What's the
outcome of the two benefits you listed?
For example: improve internal collaboration to give us more time
to focus on what matters.
5.
Summarise your answers from Q1-Q4 in the following order.
Use Write in Plain English to help.
• What’s the desired end-state? e.g. great collaborative
environment so we can focus on what matters to our users.
• What will be different? e.g. minimal repeat work.
• What needs to change? e.g. improve design/engineer hand overs.
• How will we do it? e.g. invite devs to Design Crits
6.
Follow up by setting OKRs. Use Decision Stack for
further alignment and Force Field Analysis for feasibility.
One-to-One
Guide your team members to set goals they are
motivated to achieve. Understand where they are now
and where they want to be.
You can share the first part of this task with your mentee before the
meeting to give them time to prepare.
One-to-One
1.
Write three headings: Hard skills, Soft Skills and Personal Goals
on a large surface. For each, ask your mentee to write down as
many skills/goals as they can think of related to their practice.
For example:
a. Hard Skills b. Soft Skills c. Personal Goals
• Learning agile practices • Active listening • Getting a promotion
• Holding team to account • Influencing stakeholders
• Semantic code • Better collaboration
2. C
hoose 3 - 6 items from each list to focus on. These are
stretch goals. If you are going to do the thing anyway, choose
something else.
3.
Draw five rings labeled 1 to
5. Plot where you are now
and where you want to be,
with 1 being, “I’m completely
new to this” and 5 meaning,
“I could teach this”.
4.
Choose one item they’d like
to focus on. Set OKRs
and discuss every two weeks.
Tips:
•
Work gets busy, don’t cancel this one-to-one meeting. If things get
tricky, try Accountability Dial.
•
Share skills your team wants to develop with other managers to
find opportunities for collaboration. Community of Practices
are good places to do this.
• Give regular feedback using a Retro format.
pipdecks.com/one-to-one © 2023, Pip Decks
Support 1 hour
My User Manual
Help your team understand how they can best work
with you and each other.
2.
Split the team into pairs. Get them to spend five
minutes asking questions about each other's manual.
3.
In turns, ask each person to talk about their partner
for 1 minute. They could talk about: something that
was new to them, something they had in common,
or something they liked.
Sphere of Influence
Focus your energy and attention where it counts.
2.
Decide on the topic you’d like to focus on, such as a
problem or opportunity. It can be related to the team
or organisation-wide. Write it at the top of the circles.
3.
On sticky notes, ask the group to write all their points
of concern. Group the points using Theme Sort.
For example: designers are feeling isolated; an unclear
design vision; inconsistent user interface; stakeholders
not involved.
5.
Blind Vote to choose a group of points within
Control to focus on for the next week.
Maker Time
Help your team spend time practicing their craft.
A single meeting can disrupt a whole afternoon. Get
deeper work done by committing to a Maker’s Schedule.
Maker’s Schedule Manager’s Schedule
Work
Work
Meeting
Work
Lunch vs.
Lunch
Work Meeting
Work
2.
Draw a table as shown and ask everyone to add the
number of hours they spend 'practising their craft' in
a typical week to the grid.
Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri
AM 1 1
2
PM 1 4 4
3.
Discuss any patterns, including times that are most
and least productive.
4.
Calculate the percentage of 'maker time' your team
gets each week.
Total no. of everyone’s
working hours
× 100 = Maker time %
Total no. of Hours in the
people in group × working week
5.
Agree on the percentage you'd like to achieve and
set OKRs. Consider doing a Ritual Reset to
clear calendar space.
Ritual Reset
Reflect on and re-evaluate your team meetings and
processes to create more space for what matters.
“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the
human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its
full potential, that word would be ‘meetings’.” – Dave
Barry
Works well with Maker Time to help people do their craft, and
Inclusive Meeting Playbook to make the most of your ©time.
Pipdecks.com 2023, Pip Decks
Ritual Reset
1.
Write down a list of all the current rituals within the
group, for example: Stand-ups, Show and Tells,
Community of Practice.
2.
Draw the following on your workspace and ask the
team to add all their rituals. Add any extra rows or
columns you need.
One-to-one Part team Full team Company wide
Daily
Weekly
Fortnightly
Monthly
Quarterly
Health Monitor
Keep track of your teams members’ health to learn
when and where they need support.
Myself My Team
Onboarding Retros
Monitor your onboarding process; improve it over
time. Help people feel part of your team from day one.
Tasks
Pain Points
Ideas
pipdecks.com/onboarding © 2023, Pip Decks
Health 30 mins
Attrition Rate
Get the data to anticipate turnover, act to retain key
employees and recruit new ones way ahead of time.
For signals on why people might be leaving, use with Design Maturity,
Health Monitor, Onboarding Retro. Use Get Buy-in to keep
your team informed about problems as they happen
Attrition Rate
1. Calculate your current attrition rate using this formula:
(40/200) × 100
Annual Attrition Rate = 20%
Tips:
• Keep people motivated with Goal, Signal, Metric.
• Track your attrition rate monthly.
• Split your rate into categories such as voluntary (employee
chose to leave) and involuntary (employee dismissed) so
you have a clearer picture behind the attrition rate.
• Keep a close eye on specific groups leaving by recording,
gender, ethnicity and age so you can investigate why.
Design Maturity
Understand what your team’s design maturity level
is today, and where you want to go in the short and
long-term.
Stage 1: non-design
Things are produced by people who aren’t experienced designers.
• Use Lean Presentation to tell the story.
• Use Research Questions to assess the wider group’s current
understanding of design.
• Build Psychological Safety within your immediate team.
Set clear goals using Goal, Signal, Metric. Review quarterly using a
Retro to check your progress.
Community of
Practice
Break down silos by creating a safe space for people
who share a common interest and passion.
Keep it running:
1.
Invite other disciplines, and use a shared space to
store your Community of Practices outputs.
Use Agile Comms to promote your community.
2.
3.
Do a Lean Presentation in an all-team meeting of
things your CoP has learned or discussed.
Tip: Keep going! Some weeks you’ll get only a few people and
others lots; it takes time to establish.
pipdecks.com/cop Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger 1991 © 2023, Pip Decks
Collaborate 30 seconds
Daily Sharing
Form habits of sharing work early and often without
eating into your team’s precious time.
“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every
habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated,
a habit sprouts and grows stronger.” – James Clear
2. At an agreed time (it needs to work for all) ask the
team “what are you working on?”.
3. P
eople share their work. Encourage conversation,
reactions and collaboration.
Lean Updates
Discuss what matters across your different teams and
disciplines without it becoming a chore or slowing
you down.
Person name 2
- Team name 2
2.
Set a timer for 5 minutes. Ask people to update the
first three columns next to their name.
3.
Give people another 5 minutes to read through
everyone’s answers. Ask the group to write any
questions they have in the fourth column.
Is somebody in my team working on this? Do I have
information that may not be known? Is there anybody
else who should know about this?
4.
Go through the questions together as a group. Do a
Who, What, When for any actions.
5.
Use Agile Comms or Lean Presentations to
share any updates which need to go further.
Tips:
• Use a new spreadsheet tab for each week.
• Add a tab to describe each team’s focus.
• Use this spreadsheet to help onboard new starters.
pipdecks.com/lean-updates © 2023, Pip Decks
Collaborate 1‒2 hours
Top Tasks
Understand and improve the things that matter most
to your team and customers.
2.
Theme Sort your list until it has approx ~50-100 tasks.
3.
In your group or using a survey, ask people to vote
for the top 20 tasks that:
a.) They do the most.
b.) Are the most important.
4.
Create a task league table from the results ranked by
the most frequent and most important.
5.
As a group, go through the top 10 tasks that have
the most votes. Blind Vote for the top three tasks
that the group thinks it can have an immediate
impact on.
6.
Use Task Modelling on these three tasks to
understand how people currently complete them.
7.
Use Force Field Analysis to evaluate how difficult
it would be to create change for each one.
Productivity
Blueprint
Spend more time on high-value work by identify ing
inefficiencies and opportunities to improve workflow.
a.
Tasks: write the steps your team takes in a
typical scenario. For example: read project brief,
attend a kick-off meeting, attend research session.
b.
People: write the job titles of the people involved
in each step. For example: user researcher, delivery
manager, product owner.
c.
Tools: write which tools are used for each step.
For example: Outlook, Miro, Figma.
d.
Ideas: review the map with the group and write
down any opportunities to improve parts of the
workflow.
e.
Action: dig into a task you want to improve with
Task Modelling then Force Field Analysis.
Tasks
People
Tools
Ideas
Task Modelling
Gain clarity about the steps people go through and
the decisions they make to accomplish a specific task.
Try Lean Wardley Map to see the full picture. Or Top Tasks to
uncover the most important tasks for your team or customer.
Task Modelling
1. Use Top Tasks to unearth tasks and pick a common
task that you’d like to understand.
For example: picking a colour from the Design System.
Design
Figma System
plugin website
Prototyping
kit
5. R
eview the task with the group and identify opportunities
to improve the task flow. For example: the prototyping kit is
always up to date as it’s used daily. It should be the first choice.
6. Learn the impact of this task and how it fits into the
overall system of work by using Lean Wardley Map.
pipdecks.com/task-modelling Origin: Annett and Duncan, 1967 © 2023, Pip Decks
Collaborate 1 hour
Retros
Look back on successes and failures in order to learn
and improve for next time.
Use Who, What, When afterwards to make sure things get done.
Retros
1.
If you’ve run a Retro previously, revisit the themes and
actions from last time to build a sense of continuity.
2. P
ick a retro exercise from below:
• Loved, Loathed, Longed for, Learned.
• Start, Stop, Continue.
• Mad, Sad, Glad.
• Drop, Add, Keep, Improve.
3.
Explain that each word in the Retro’s title is a question.
For example: Mad, Sad, Glad - what made you mad?
What made you sad? What made you glad?
4.
On sticky notes, ask each person to spend five
minutes writing answers to each question.
5.
In turn, have each person post their sticky notes and
briefly talk through each one, Theme Sort as you go.
6.
Prioritise the top three or four points to discuss using
Blind Vote.
7.
Discuss these in more detail and use Who, What,
When to capture actions.
Tips:
• Be considerate – don’t make it personal, don’t take it personally.
• Listen with an open mind – everyone’s experience is valid.
• Set the time period you’re discussing (last sprint, last quarter, entire project, etc.).
• Focus on improvement, rather than placing blame.
• Pay attention to change. If nothing is changing, do a Retro on your Retros.
pipdecks.com/retros Origin: Norman L. Kerth, 2001. © 2023, Pip Decks
Collaborate 1 hour
Design Crits
Improve your designs by gaining different perspectives
while increasing collaboration across disciplines.
2. Tell the group what you would like feedback on, and
what you would not like feedback on.
For example: improving the sign ups but not colours, logo size, photos.
Tips:
• Invite as many people as you’d be happy to have at a dinner party. Bigger
groups can be hard to manage.
• For larger groups do a silent crit by sharing designs digitally.
• To delve deeper into a problem, pair up in a smaller group of two or three.
• Use your Design Principles to help guide the conversation.
• Consider setting Team Values around feedback.
Get Buy-in
Talk to individuals first and involve them deeply in
the problem so that they get on board with your idea.
1.
As a team, identify the people you need to influence:
• Who are the decision makers?
• Who are the people who’ll implement the changes?
• Who will be affected by these changes?
2.
Arrange one-to-one meetings with them. Use
Research Questions to get to know their concerns
about your plans. Use Theme Sort to examine
common concerns.
3.
Address concerns directly when you do your big
presentation. Use Lean Presentations to make
it memorable.
Tips:
• People don’t like being put on the spot, especially if a
decision needs to be made. Use Agile Comms to share
often and Communication Matrix to be intentional
in your communications.
• People like to feel informed and to feel smart, so help them out.
•A
ddressing common concerns makes people feel heard and
respected. Use Sphere of Influence to dig into the
things you can change.
Write in Plain
English
Get your message understood the first time its read
(you might not get a second chance).
Inclusive Meeting
Playbook
Make people feel part of their meetings.
4.
Write a summary for each answer using a title and bullet
points for each. Be sure to Write in Plain English.
5.
Use Lean Presentation to create posters. Add a link
to each invite and encourage people to speak up and
Say What you Mean if guidelines are broken.
6.
Decide who to share your inclusive playbook with
using Communication Matrix.
1.
W hat did you observe? State the facts that are
leading you to feel the need to say something. For
example: I had no invite to last week’s kick-off meeting.
2.
How did it feel? State the feeling that it triggered in you.
For example: dejected, insecure, resentful.
3.
W hat are your needs?
State the need that is the cause of that feeling. The
need should not include a reference to a specific
person, action or time. For example: a sense of
belonging, to be respected.
4.
Request a concrete action.
Make a concrete request for action to meet the need
just identified. Ask clearly and specifically for what
you want right now, rather than hinting or stating
only what you don’t want. For example:
5.
Go through the points, imagining the situation from
the other person’s perspective.
pipdecks.com/say-it Marshall Rosenberg 1960s © 2023, Pip Decks
Communicate 1‒2 hours
Communication
Matrix
Be intentional with your communications, keep
people informed and build trust.
2.
Group them using Theme Sort.
4.
Keep track of your regular communications in a shared
space and review every 3 months.
Accountability Dial
Hold your team to account without falling into the
micromanagement trap.
Agile Comms
Help your team communicate clearly and creatively
about their work in progress.
Tips:
• Collect things to show, not tell – take screenshots, photos, sketches,
notes and include them to create a visual story.
• Write your first draft quickly – it’ll reveal big issues to fix
• Keep each update about one main point.
Lean
Presentations
Choose the most important parts of your work, then
use common structures to communicate them clearly
so they stick in your audience’s memory.
2.
Divide your presentation
into three sections, such as:
• What won’t change; What can change; What will change.
• Where we’ve been; Where we are now; Where we’re going.
• Analysis; Diagnosis; Actions.
• Problem; Solution; Next steps.
• Past; Present; Future.
3. U
se sticky notes to write down the main points for each
section. This helps you to see the flow of your argument,
spot repetition, and to easily move things around.
4.
Create your presentation:
• Make your words short, big and clear.
• Make your pictures relevant, big and clear.
• Don’t have too many colours or fonts.
• Practise a lot and be yourself.
Tips:
• Think of your presentation as a series of posters.
• Start at the end of your story and work backwards.
• Keep a bank of slides that work.
Team Appreciation
Put a smile on everyone’s face by sharing good vibes.
Running Team Values before this card will help you with the first
bit of this tactic. Works well with Write in Plain English.
Team Appreciation
1. Draw a grid with your Team Values horizontally
across the top and the names of each person
vertically down the side.
Value 1 Value 2 Value 3
Participant
name 1
Participant
name 2
Appreciation
Playbook
Be consistent in letting people know their efforts are
recognised and valued.
2.
Think about ways to give recognition. Consider
both public and private spaces for appreciation.
• In public – a shout out on social media, in
a newsletter, doing a Team Appreciation
workshop, kudos channel.
• In private – a handwritten note, send a gift, a
thank you call.
3.
Write as many as you can think of and group them
together using Theme Sort. For example, you
could choose:
• W hen they're given: Immediate, post-event or
aggregated in monthly meeting.
• Given by who: boss, peer or other.
• Value: financial, emotional or professional.
4.
Blind Vote on the ways you want to show
appreciation. Or, to help you decide, plot each
theme on an Impact Effort Map and add any in
'do now' to your Communication Matrix.
Goal, Signal,
Metric
Let your team know the impact they are having.
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Peter Drucker
Lean Survey
Get answers in numbers to help you make decisions.
2.
Write the most critical things you’d like to learn in
box 1. For example, “Which design tool do people use the most?”
3.
Discuss and fill in boxes 2 to 5 in your group.
For example, 2: “Our interaction designers”, 3: “Email
list”, 4: “Survey last week”, 5: “We’ll chose one tool to use if
70% of the team are using it.”
5.
Discuss each question. Does it help answer your
critical questions (box 1)?
6.
Write your agreed questions in boxes a-g. Choose up to
seven; any more can decrease completion rate.
7.
Your invite/intro text should include why you need the
information and what you will do with it.
8.
Before sending, test your survey in person to see if
people understand your questions.
pipdecks.com/lean-survey © 2023, Pip Decks
Technique
Research Questions
Ask questions that help you challenge your own
unavoidable biases.
b. Be specific
Drill down into motivations and behaviours; ask why.
g. Digging in
Ask them to build on what they say: “Tell me more about that?”
Tip: listen back to your interviews and use these prompts to see how you did.
pipdecks.com/research-questions Origin: Andrew Travers, 2013. © 2023, Pip Decks
Technique 5 mins
Blind Vote
Democratically make decisions as a group. Eliminate
all but one thing, or find the top three things.
2.
Ensure the group understands what they are going to
vote on by allowing time by explaining each item up
for vote.
3.
Explain that each person has three votes each, to use
in any way they like. You’re allowed to vote on your
own items, or put all three votes on one thing!
4.
Ask each person in the group to write down the
numbers of the items they are voting for on a
sticky note.
5.
Once voting is finished, retrieve the votes from the
participants. Count the votes and write the totals on
each item so everyone can clearly see the result of the
voting.
Objectives and
Key Results
Create radical focus for your team by agreeing on an
objective and actively measuring progress towards it.
2.
Put each objective on a sticky note, put them up on
a wall and then Theme Sort.
4.
List as many metrics as you can in 10 minutes. They
should show you’re closer to achieving the objective.
For example: number of time-wasting tasks found,
hours saved, designers spoken to.
5.
Use Theme Sort and Blind Vote to group and
decide on three metrics.
6.
Turn your three metrics into Key Results by setting
specific, quantitative targets.
For example: ‘Save x hours a month, interview x
different designers’.
7.
Agree on specific numbers for each Key Result.
You should feel like you have a fifty-fifty chance of
achieving each one in the next quarter.
For example: ‘Save 40 hours per month (5/10)’.
pipdecks.com/okr Origin: Andy Grove, 1983 © 2023, Pip Decks
Technique 10 mins
2.
Starting with the ‘Who’ column, write down the
participants who will be taking an action.
3.
Ask each participant what actual steps they can
commit to. Write these in the ‘What’ column.
4.
For each row, ask that person to record a time and
date they will have that item done by in the ‘What’
column. ‘Next week’ is too vague, and doesn’t create
concrete commitment.
5.
At this point, there might be a lot to do. Encourage
people with no tasks to either come up with an
action, or assist another person.
pipdecks.com/whowhatwhen Origin: Dave Gray & Mike Berman © 2023, Pip Decks
Technique 10 mins
Theme Sort
Make sense of large amounts of information by
clustering similar things together to find the theme.
2.
Make sure there is one point per note.
3.
Put the sticky notes on the workspace; read each one
aloud as you do.
4.
Each time you put up a new sticky note, ask yourself
if it’s related or similar to a previous one. If so, place
it near the existing note. If it’s exactly the same,
place it behind that note.
5.
W hen all the sticky notes have been clustered, write
a title for each group on a larger sticky note. These
are your themes.
6.
Review the outliers; they may belong in smaller clusters.
Impact Effort
Map
Group together ideas by how much effort they require
to create, and by how much impact they’ll have on
your goal.
Low effort
Do later Do now
Forget it Do later
High effort
4.
Create commitment to the ‘do now’ and ‘do later’
actions with Who, What, When.