GoFore has offices spread all over Europe, which makes them feel very far apart. Even though people use video calls, it just doesn't feel like they are in the same room. This can lead to a decrease in motivation and team dynamics with colleagues.
To improve this, a virtual meeting room was created where several participants could enter with an avatar. Currently, this virtual meeting room is similar to an ordinary meeting room, with a huge table in the middle and chairs around it.
VR meeting spaces don't have to follow an old pattern and can be rethought from the ground up. To think about this, we decided to have a joint Design Sprint 2.0!
The first day consists of inviting the experts, so the team can hear their vision of the project. Afterwards, the team votes on sprint questions they want to see answered after the week, along with a long-term goal. We pinned the goal to the wall so we never lose sight of what we want to accomplish during the sprint. To put the Sprint Questions in context with our product, we created a Customer Journey Map and assigned the questions to sections. The rest of the day consists of using different techniques to come up with (crazy) ideas.
Rested after a quiet night, it's time for the art museum. Each participant hangs their sketches around the room, so you get a nice gallery of all the solution sketches that have been created. Afterwards, everyone is invited to walk around, write down questions, mark things, and go through all the proposed solutions. Once a decision is made on which solution to pursue, the team creates a storyboard to better plan prototyping and testing.
Preparation is key before starting to build the prototype the next day!
Tasks are divided and the whole day is spent building a prototype that seems realistic but is just a "Wizard of Oz" prototype (fake functionalities).
Finally, the day we can harvest the fruits of our hard work! The target customers are invited to come by and test the prototype. We set up a test room with a laptop that films via webcam as I guide the participants through the test. Meanwhile, all workshop participants sit in another room to watch the testing via a livestream. As they do so, they discuss and take notes. At the end of the day, we come together to discuss the results and wrap up the project.
We were very happy with our result. The idea of having multiple virtual screens to show different content within the environment was very well received by the clients. The results of the design sprint gave the project a fresh new direction to go in for the future. Something that should be repeated for sure!