Wednesday: Decide on the Best Solution & Storyboard

Wednesday: Decide on the Best Solution & StoryboardDay 3 of 5: Converge and commit.

After a full day of creative ideas, it’s time to decide which solution to prototype. The team now faces a wall full of sketches—how do you make a clear, objective decision? Start with a silent art gallery: each team member walks through and reviews the sketches independently. Then, everyone votes using dot stickers or marks to highlight promising features or full solutions. This creates a heat map that shows where interest and consensus are forming. Next, it's time for the Decider (often the product owner or key stakeholder) to make the final call. They can choose one idea or create a mashup of multiple concepts, based on the votes and alignment with the Sprint goal. In the afternoon, the team builds a storyboard—a step-by-step visual plan for the prototype. It’s usually a sequence of 10 to 15 frames that show how the user interacts with the solution, from beginning to end. This storyboard will be the blueprint for Thursday’s prototyping session. Key Takeaways: 

• Lay out all ideas visually: Reviewing sketches side-by-side helps make ideas tangible and comparable.
• Use structured voting to guide the team: Heat maps reveal team consensus, but the Decider ensures alignment with goals.
• Commit to a single direction: Focus is key. Pick one concept to test and move forward with speed and confidence.
• Storyboard the user journey: This visual narrative keeps everyone aligned on what needs to be prototyped the next day.

 When your team has several great ideas, how do you choose which one to pursue? Do you vote, use data, or follow a leader’s intuition?

Share your decision-making strategies in the comments #DesignSprint #Innovation #ProductManagement #Startups #DecisionMaking