Reprioritizing a neglected audience with a design sprint
The Challenge.
A DC-area credit union came to us with a challenge: they were founded to serve active military and veteran members. However, their charter had recently been changed to allow civilian membership as well, opening their doors to the general public. They now feared they were alienating their original base by not providing products and services tailored to them.
What made this challenge challenging?
It was vague.
Someone had a vague idea that the credit union’s military membership was unsatisfied. But were they? And if so, why? And what could be done about it? Each question only led to more questions.
It was broad.
The problem and any associated solutions would surely span many (possibly all) departments. This was not a UI issue. This was product, services, sales, marketing, and more. How to get them all in one room?
It was important.
While the credit union was now free to open its doors to the general public, they were doing so slowly. Its military base was still by far the majority of its membership, and it could not risk isolating them.
The Action.
I leveraged a methodology developed and pioneered at Google Ventures: the 5-Day Sprint. I gathered a diverse group of stakeholders in a room for a week, during which time we conducted discovery research, validated the problem, ideated and prioritized solutions, built and tested a working prototype, and planned next steps.
Make it stand out.
How I improved upon the GV Sprint:
The Google Ventures (GV) Sprint has become a trusted method for systematically solving large, thorny problems. This was my first time employing it. When I first read Jake Knapp’s book on the process, it immediately appealed to me. However, there was one issue that jumped off the page: you don’t bring in users until Friday! I’m constantly telling clients: “It’s never too early to talk to users! Give me a sketch on a napkin, and I’ll get you user feedback.” I knew I couldn’t wait for the end of the week to bring in the all-important users.
As good as the GV Sprint was, I knew I could improve it. I took some of the Monday morning activities and moved them to a call that took place the week before the sprint. That made room to add some research to the Monday schedule, in addition to Friday. I conducted and recorded interviews with military members in advance, and invited a few members to join us in person, too. The impact was striking! Starting the week by sitting face to face with users and hearing their struggles set the tone and lit a fire that lasted the rest of the week.
The Result.
By the end of the week, the team had united around a concept and developed a rough prototype for a financial product targeted at deployed military personnel. They’d tested it with military members and received a warm reception. And they had a list of other exciting ideas to keep them busy for months! Best of all, based on the sprint’s success, they requested a follow up sprint around a new challenge.
“Phenomenal. I kept recruiting more managers to come in and watch the testing.”
— Chief Digital Officer
“Set the stage to disrupt the culture of the entire organization by introducing human-centered design.”
— Digital Product Manager
“An amazing experience. Maddie is a master facilitator and always kept the team on schedule.”
— Senior UX Designer