I created, launched and ran Design Fest, the largest collaboration project in Workhuman history. This was a company-wide event that looked to harness the creative talent within all Workhuman employees regardless of experience or title, in order to bring a new joyful product idea to life through a mini design sprint over the course of 1 day, as well as highlight the importance of design and outcome driven development. All ideas were judged by the C-Suite executives at Workhuman, with the winner being chosen based on the idea that brought most joy to our users.
My role
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I created the event, brand, and theme, and shared the idea with management to gain their buy-in to achieve a product design team goal.
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Working alongside other key members of the product design team, we elaborated on the brand, event theme, and created a process for success by establishing a sub-team that reported to me.
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I designed a design thinking workshop in collaboration with other principal designers and conducted multiple trial runs to ensure that the event would run smoothly without any issues.
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I worked with product design management to identify suitable colleagues who would facilitate the workshops for multiple teams and trained them on how to do so.
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During the event, I facilitated a design fest team myself while also managing Slack and email communications for the company.
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I collaborated with a 3rd party event planning team to deliver fun aspects of the event such as live music, games, printed materials, videographers, photographers, and food.
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Continuously reviewed progress and outcomes with management to ensure we were achieving the goals we set out at the beginning, or that they had been met.
Key activities I led
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Coordination: I worked with members of the product design team, events, and facilities to ensure the smooth running of all the activities on the day, such as the workshops, live music, and food, across four countries and online.
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Facilitation: I facilitated a participant team during the event and created the workshop format to be followed by 12 other teams led by other Workhuman designers.
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Management: I took complete ownership of the project, proposed the idea, gained managerial buy-in, secured funding, and executed the plan.
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Resourcing: I successfully lobbied and trained a team of facilitators and hosts from internal employees to work at the event.
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Delegation: I created detailed plans for others to follow for the event, created sub-teams that reported progress to me daily, and ensured planning and execution of the event across multiple countries and online.
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Feedback: I ensured that all participants were satisfied with their participation in the event through post-event surveys, interviews, and polls.
Skills utilised
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Creativity and Innovation
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Strategic thinking and planning
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Collaboration and teamwork
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Leadership and management
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Communication and interpersonal skills
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Event planning and coordination
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Workshop design and facilitation
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Project management
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Resource management and delegation
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Problem-solving and decision-making
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Attention to detail and organisational skills
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Customer service and satisfaction.
Key outputs and outcomes
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13 teams across 4 locations with over 150 people participating.
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13 fantastic ideas created, with the winner implemented in product.
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Increased awareness of design thinking principles.
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Elevated the status of the design team and their work.
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Conversations team were able to begin a new process of outcome driven development after the completion of this event.
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Created a great story for potential new hires.
In depth details
Introduction
In February 2020, just prior to the pandemic, a colleague and I were able to create a company-wide, design-led event called Usability Day. The event aimed to highlight the need to put accessibility and usability at the heart of our company's operations to achieve the company's vision of making work more human. The event was a massive success, with hundreds of employees participating in fun accessibility and usability-themed activities. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were unable to run the event again in subsequent years.
Objective
I had the opportunity to pitch a slightly altered event to senior design management that would assist the product design team in achieving their goal of highlighting a design thinking approach to work, and why an outcome-based approach to product development was better than what we were currently doing as a company. The event would be a festival-style design thinking workshop where teams would collaborate on an innovative idea to spark more joy into one of Workhuman's products.
Challenges
Getting buy-in was the easy part. Getting budget and time required some more presentations and persuasion, but eventually, I got the go-ahead. The scale of the event was also a major challenge and not something I could handle by myself. However, I managed to create appropriate documentation and lobby the right people to ensure the event was properly staffed. We always stayed focused on the goal of the event, namely, the promotion of the design team and how they work.
Approach
After the plan for the event was agreed, I formed sub-teams responsible for different aspects of the event, such as branding, event planning, catering, etc. Alongside another principal product designer, I worked on the most critical aspect of the event - the workshop and the outcomes that the teams would achieve. The sub-teams reported to me daily, and I liaised with a third-party planning company for budget-heavy requirements such as food, photography, etc.
As the event was to be held in four different locations and online, I had to pick the people who would be present in other offices to facilitate the workshop. Planning and timing became complex yet critical due to multiple locations.
The workshop was designed to enable teams to create a product feature that would add joy to our suite of products. The teams would go through the activities designed by me, and at the end of the workshop, they would have a product output that could be presented to judges. The winning team would be the one that added the most joy to our suite.
Overall, my role in the event was to ensure that everything ran smoothly, and all teams were coordinated effectively. Through my leadership, we were able to deliver a successful event that was enjoyed by everyone.
Results
Over the course of the event, I was able to ensure everything that we had planned ran as smoothly as predicted. The workshop ran flawlessly thanks to the easy to follow facilitation guide I created. The participating teams all created some fantastic ideas that really did add joy to our products. Importantly too we were able to highlight the work that designers do on a day to day basis, as well as bring an outcome driven approach to product development to the entire company. Design Fest was received fantastically by senior management, by executives and all those that participated. Even on a small budget, the event generated a buzz in the company. I'm thankful that I was given the opportunity to create this event and help the design team further their aims. Lastly, as a result of Design Fest, my team (the Conversations team) was able to instil an outcome-driven approach to product development because of the awareness raised by our workshops and event.
Learnings
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Involve a wider range of stakeholders, including representatives from different departments, functions, and levels, in the planning and execution of the event. Doing this alone with sub-teams from the product design team meant we had some group think at certain stages
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Allocate sufficient resources, including time, budget, and personnel, to each aspect of the event, and prioritise them based on their importance, impact, and feasibility. Monitor and control the budget and schedule regularly to avoid overspending which happened on a small scale.
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Communicate effectively and regularly with all stakeholders, providing them with clear and concise information about the event's purpose, format, agenda, and expectations. Use different channels and formats, such as emails, newsletters, posters, videos, or social media, to reach different audiences and engage them.
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Evaluate the event's success and identify areas for improvement and innovation. Collect feedback from participants, organisers, sponsors, and other stakeholders, and analyze it in a systematic and objective way. Use the insights gained from the evaluation to enhance the design, delivery, and impact of future events.
Conclusion
Overall the event was a massive success, with people from all areas of Workhuman participating and seeing the work we do first hand. I learned a whole new set of skills in facilitating this event that are more a kin to event management, however there are a number of applicable skills that are relevant to my role as principal product designer. I can alway be a better manager, and delegating and entrusting people with more responsibility would have made the event a lot less stressful for me, despite how positively it was received. As a company, we were able to add some more joy to our products and help people see the humanity in the work we do.
