Method overview

When your team sets off on a journey to deliver a project, it is critical that everyone is aligned on 1-2 long term goals. These shared goals will help drive decision making as you balance scope and timeline.

Outcomes

Some of the outcomes you will achieve by doing this is

• Alignment on desired project outcomes

• Framework for making decisions during the project lifecycle

Prerequisites

1. Identify the project champion. This person is the lead stakeholder with the most influence or responsibility. They will have a unique role during the activity. In the voting activity, they will vote after everyone else.

Participants

3-6 stakeholders that are responsible for the outcomes of the project.This should include the project champion.

Materials needed

• 3” x 5” (76mm x 127mm) sticky notes
• Permanent markers
• Voting dots
• [if virtual] Online collaboration tool like Miro or large conference room

Method steps

1. Hand out a pad of stickies and markers to each participant
2. Present the prompt “In two years time…” by writing in on a whiteboard or large sheet of paper. You can make the timeline shorter or longer based on your project scope.
3. Give participants 5 minutes to find at 2 least two different ways to finish that prompt as it relates to the project. Consider how you might talk about this project with your colleagues, friends, or family when it is successful.
4. Have everyone present their statements and place the sticky notes on the wall.
5. Reserving 1 color for the project champion, give everyone else 3 voting dots and ask them to vote on their favorite statement(s). They can use all their votes on 1 statement or distribute as they wish.
6. Ask the project champion to review all the voting dots and then decide where to place their 3 voting dots
7. Tally the votes. If there are 2 statements that end up in a tie, work as a team to rewrite the one ideal statement as your long-term goal. You can choose to keep both goals, but recommend no more than 2 long term goals.
8. If your project team is located together, create posters with the goal(s) on them and put them up in your space, to remind your team of why they are there.

Learn more

Design Thinking Toolkit - Long term goal

Design Sprint 2.0 Monday - Long Term Goal & Sprint Questions (external)