Sprint and bloom, let's run it back
Kai's Howdy World #9
*gasp*
For the first time in Sprintfolio history, I actually joined a sprint I was running.
In the past, I always mulled about joining a sprint, but I was super focused on making sure everyone’s else’s experience went smoothly.
This time, I was selective and invited only 10 designers to this sprint and I created accountability pairs. One designer realized that she didn’t have time, so I decided to step in.
I never felt like I had time to manage and participate… but this time, I made it work…
And I’m so glad I did!!
Ok, let’s rewind…
2024 left me ragged.
At that point, I had facilitated nearly 200 design sprints and hosted a monthly design workshop for 7 months in a row.
The Sprintfolio beta had the worst completion rate ever - 25%. I was disappointed.
I wasn’t devastated, but I started dragging on my tasks and I didn’t feel a spark to run the cycle again.
So instead… at the beginning of 2025, I committed to:
reject doomscrolling in the mornings
more hydration and healthy daily habits
less noise, more learning and building
trying new things to spark creativity, I made a cattok 🙂
The yearn for a community of designers to learn and grow was still present and taking root.
+ I also knew that I wanted to optimize the Design Garden Career Notion Template.
Which is why the Design Garden Sprint was spawned!
Design Garden Sprint is a 2 month accountability group for designers. We set up systems of organization and established accountability rituals along the way. Each of us shared goals we wanted to focus on while creating a space where we could be honest about our struggles and needs.
Personally, I’ve learned to be more understanding with my progress, since I actually had to document and review it. We built meaningful working relationships and connections that extended beyond our regular check-ins.
At the end, we took time to reflect on our experiences and presented our unique journeys to the group.
The Result
The sprint brought together 9 designers plus one project manager, with everyone collectively supporting each other through the process.
While this was catered for designers, we had one project manager join us! She was a last minute addition, so I was actually part of a 3 person group. We agreed to text each other every Wednesday by noon with our check-ins. It was enlightening to learn about what project managers study and I want to incorporate more of that in the summer session.
fun fact: 50% of us found new gigs during the process! 🎉
While I can’t take credit for these wins, I can vouch that I watched these designers work really hard and I’m proud of them. Welllll… I can take credit that…I’m included in that percentage! I started a new role as multimedia designer for Tallo, a digital career copilot for genz!
While doing this sprint, I had to shift my goals to preparing for the interview process. Our end of sprint presentation night was an excellent training ground for that, and it made it fun.
Check out our presentation recaps:
3 main things I took away from the process + retrospective:
Community Value:
"It's nice to be in a space of people working towards their goals and keeping each other accountable"
"Design Garden helped establish connections with many fellow designers and professionals"
Career Impact:
“I really enjoy notion now that I was introduced this to it and want to update my case studies here and keep applying improvements. I was also able to keep myself accountable because these past couple months really brought more structure into my life so I was able to accomplish more than before and I found a new community which pushes me to do portfolio building.”
Format:
Participants appreciated that there was a variety of different focuses, disciplines and career stages.
Meetings and coworking sessions were consistently mentioned as helpful
Three is the magic number:
I want to increase the accountability pairs into groups of 3. It adds a little bit more pressure to follow through, but also helps if someone drops out for any reason, there’s atleast a person behind to continue sprinting with.
I’ve started putting together the summer schedule together, and I’ve already placed some of the selective spots with very talented designers!
Stay tuned for the next sprint announcement - I'm so excited to share what will make it even better based on all the feedback I’ve accumulated.
until next time... au revoir!