Workshop Planning for Design Team

Kalena, your Workshop Planning template for the Design Team is incredibly well-structured and comprehensive. It provides a clear roadmap for improving the online user experience for a retail clothing store, aligning perfectly with the goals of understanding user needs, identifying solutions, and generating a timeline for implementation. The template is both compact and actionable, making it an excellent starting point.

The inclusion of specific time slots, activities, and deliverables ensures clarity and focus. The "Goals" section clearly outlines the purpose, while the "Final Deliverables" explicitly lists key outcomes such as the end-to-end user journey map, project completion roadmap, top product features, and challenges/limitations.

The agenda balances structure with creativity, incorporating engaging activities like icebreakers, brainstorming sessions, and voting mechanisms to keep participants actively involved. The inclusion of breaks helps maintain energy levels throughout the day. Additionally, diverse participant roles ensure varied perspectives are captured, leading to more holistic solutions.

The practical tools and resources listed (sticky notes, sharpies, whiteboard, dots for voting) are simple yet effective, facilitating collaboration without unnecessary complexity. The emphasis on creating an end-to-end user journey map early in the process highlights a strong focus on user-centered design.

Overall, this template is highly adaptable and scalable, providing a solid framework that can be easily modified. Great job, Kalena!

This is a solid start. You’ve nailed the structure—clear agenda, good use of UX methods, right people in the room, and practical tools. It shows you’re thinking like a designer and facilitator.

But you can push it further.

First—tighten the challenge. Right now, it’s a bit broad. Instead of “improving the shopping experience,” try framing a specific issue like “users drop off during checkout” or “hard to filter by size or category.” That gives the session more focus and helps teams generate targeted ideas.

Second—add user context upfront. One slide with 2–3 pain points, maybe a quote or a quick stat. Doesn’t need to be deep research, even assumptions are fine. It shows you’re not jumping straight to solutions—you’re grounded in user needs.

Your activities are strong. Rose-Bud-Thorn, Crazy 8s, Dot Voting—they’re the right tools. Just add a quick why under each one. For example:

– “Crazy 8s – to push for rapid concept diversity”

– “Dot voting – helps prioritize ideas as a group”

That gives your process more intention.

Next—show what the outcome could look like. Include a sample journey map, a sketch, or even just a wireframe placeholder. You’re saying the team will make these—back it up visually. The design brief values that.

One last idea—add a short “what’s next” at the end. Something like:

– “Test top 2 ideas with 5 users next week”

– “Share outcomes in sprint planning”

This closes the loop and shows you’re thinking beyond the workshop.

You’ve already done the heavy lifting. Just polish the framing, ground it in users, and show a glimpse of the output. You’re close. Keep going.