UX WORKSHOP TOOLKIT BY

How does it work? Why should I use it?

1. Start with the empty template No need to recall workshop activities from memory
Stick the workshop script template on
the wall and write down the objectives Better overview of the session (1 page script)
and logistical details about your session.
Easy to move blocks around in your script
2. Add workshop activities
Pick the script blocks (activities, recaps Facilitates a more collaborative approach
and breaks) you need for your session
and add them to the script template.

3. Review the flow of the session Hope you enjoy using it!
Get feedback from other people and move
To ensure we keep improving the tool, please send your
the script blocks around until you are
feedback to elena.sanchez@sitback.com.au
happy with your final workshop script.

We want to help you prepare better UX workshops in half the time!

You can also find an online version where you can create, save, and edit your workshop scripts at
http://uxscriptwriter.io/
CHEAT SHEET FOR PREPARING AND RUNNING UX WORKSHOPS
THE BASICS
What is a UX workshop?
A UX workshop is a group session
(discussions and/or hands-on
activities) with users or stakeholders to
learn about their motivations,
behaviours and ideas with the aim to
design better products and services.
Types of workshops
• User research workshop
• Business requirements workshop
• Ideation or Co-design workshop
• Product roadmap workshop
• Feedback/Refinement workshop
• Team mission alignment workshop
• ...
Why run a UX workshop?
• The hands-on approach often helps
to uncover tacit knowledge
• A relaxed and fun environment
encourages collaboration
• More time-efficient to get several
perspectives (vs individual interviews)
• Improve team mission alignment
What are UX workshops MOST
useful for?
• Facilitate dialogue between people
from different teams, backgrounds or
user profiles
• Gather insights from subject matter
experts or users
• Identify current frustrations
• Generate ideas for future state
• Agree on vision, direction and
priorities as a group
What are UX workshops NOT the
best method for?
• Confirm an idea will be a success
• Test the usability of your product
• Fine-tune small design details
• Get an in-depth understanding of
individual personal experiences
•
UX WORKSHOP TOOLKIT BY
KEY CONSIDERATIONS HOW TO CHOOSE BETWEEN DIFFERENT WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR WORKSHOP
1. Write down your workshop objectives ACTIVITY USEFUL FOR TIPS
• What questions are you trying to answer with your workshop?
• What type of data are you interested in collecting: qualitative, quantitative or both? Useful to force users to think harder about
• As a follow-up, you can ask participants to stick smiley
all the steps in a process or all the
TIMELINE faces in the highlights or happy moments of their journey
2. Confirm the research method and approach interactions with a company or product over
and sad faces in frustrating moments.
Understanding mental models
time.
• Is a workshop the best method to answer your research questions or achieve your goals? Why?
• Does your workshop need to cover any topic that participants may feel uncomfortable discussing in a group
Useful to understand what users perceive as • If users struggle, start by drawing a simple mindmap of
setting? (If so, consider using another method) related products or services, why and how an unrelated topic as a group so they can see an
MINDMAP
they buy/use them example.
3. Plan your workshop logistics (participants, space, date…)
• Who are the participants for the workshops? (Be careful with internal staff and mixing different levels of
Useful to understand how people structure
hierarchy, as people may not feel open to discuss certain opinions or behaviours in front of their boss) • Do not use more than 20-30 cards, it'll take too long
CARDSORTING these contents in their mind and what to
and the task can be overwhelming.
• How will you recruit the participants? (Include 1 or 2 extra people to cover for no-shows and cancellations) consider to define the IA
• Will the participants receive any incentive for their time in the workshop?
• What is the best time and duration for the workshop? (Business hours or after work…) • As a follow-up, you can place each idea on the wall and
Useful to force everyone to come up with
• Where are you running your workshop? (Is it formal or informal, accessibility, recording options…) ask a pre-defined set of questions for
BRAINSTORMING their own ideas, listen to everyone's ideas
each idea (table layout) to make sure you really
• How are you going to capture the information from your workshop? (Bring a note taker if possible, you can and then build upon each others' ideas
understand each idea and its implications.
also record the session or setup a live feed and invite your stakeholders to observe from another room)
Ideation & co-creation
Useful to foster creative thinking and out-of- • If users are self-aware of their sketching skills, clarify
4. Prepare your workshop script
SKETCHING the-box ideas by using a different part of the it's not a drawing competition, basic shapes will do to
• What activities do you want participants to do during the workshop? (to answer your research questions) brain communicate ideas.
• What follow-up questions do you need to ask to ensure you get the information you need?
• How can you order the different activities and breaks to make the session flow naturally?
• If a group does not know where to start, prompt them
• How long do you need for each activity? How many breaks, if any, do you need to include? Useful to co-design with people not
BUILDING BLOCKS/ with specific questions "So... what do you think about
PAPER PROTOTYPE
comfortable sketching or just focus on flow/
• Which activity/s can be skipped (not critical) if you are running out of time this block? Where should it go? Why? What about this
structure vs details
order block?"
5. Set up the room
• Have you got everything you need for the workshop? (Consent forms, incentives, stationary...) Useful to force stakeholders/users to make • As a follow-up, after hearing everyone's rationale you
ASSIGNING DOTS a decision on priorities (not everything can can give users a special dot and ask them to identify
• If you are recording the session, have you checked the recording devices are working properly?
be top priority) their top item.
• Do you have enough chairs, water bottles and name tags for the participants?
• Does your note-taker know what information needs to be captured and what format works best for you?
Prioritising
Useful to force stakeholders/users to think • You can print your own fake money or use "fake money"
DISTRIBUTING MONEY
6. Relax and enjoy facilitating the workshop about the relative importance of their goals from Monopoly or similar board games.
• Have you explained the purpose of the workshop and their rights as participants?
• Have you asked for permission before you start recording the session?
• Are you giving all participants the same opportunities to talk? Useful to prioritise features in a product
X/Y AXIS backlog considering 2 dimensions (e.g.
• As a follow-up, you can ask the group to agree on a
• Are you vigilant in not asking leading questions, sharing your opinion or making judgments? consolidated list ordered by priority.
importance/urgency and effort required)
• Are you keeping an eye on the time during the session to make sure you don’t run overtime?
• Have you thanked the participants for their contributions and informed them of any next steps?
Useful to exhaustively identify all the
• As a follow-up, you can ask each group to assign dots
7. Analyse and document the outcomes RED AND GREEN positives and negatives of a product
to the top 3 positives and top 3 negatives.
(even if one dominates)
What were the outcomes of the workshop?
What were the common trends across the different participants?
Gathering feeback
What were the divergences between the participants? • As a follow-up, you can ask the participants to vote for
Useful to let users have a go at a task that
Any interesting anecdotes or powerful personal stories? the preferred updated versions and/or have a second
MODIFY/ADD/REMOVE can not be completed from scratch (long,
attempt after hearing what each group changed and
Have you answered all your research questions or do you need more research? complicated, several skillsets required..)
why.
What is the best format to document and share the findings from the workshop with others?
Useful to reflect, facilitate honest • As a follow-up, you can write down the key ideas,
8. Reflect on your workshop preparation and facilitation skills PICTURE CARDS conversations and share personal summarise the common topics back to them at the end
What are the learnings for the next time you have to prepare and/or run a workshop? perspectives/experiences/opinions and ask participants if they have anything to add.
Any feedback or suggestion?
elena.sanchez@sitback.com.au
 UX WORKSHOP SCRIPT
Objectives of the workshop: (PROJECT TITLE)

- (Workshop duration)
-
(Participants)
-

- (Date, time and space)

Instructions Materials
INTRO
Thank participants for taking part in this session. • Name tags
To identify participants
Introduce yourself, explain the context and the purpose of the session. • Markers
and their context
Go around the room and ask participants to introduce themselves and share their _______________
____ minutes ___________________________________(e.g. role, specific expertise, what products they own).

Place activities, context recaps and breaks here!

WRAP UP
Thank participants for attending and let them know the next steps.
____ minutes

TOTAL TIME:

Any feedback or suggestion?

UX WORKSHOP
UX WORKSHOP TOOLKIT
TOOLKITBY
BY elena.sanchez@sitback.com.au
 SCRIPT BUILDING BLOCKS (Page 1 of 3)
Instructions Followup
Followup questions
questions Materials
Materials
Understanding mental models

Draw a timeline from when you ___________ until ____________ and ____________________________ ________________
TIMELINE
write a post-it for each event: ____________________________ ________________
____________________________ ________________
To understand
How and when did you _______________________? ____________________________ ________________
processes or journeys
How and when did you________________________? ____________________________ ________________
(how to do a specific task
How and when did you________________________? ____________________________ ________________
or interactions over time)
____________________________ ________________
If some participants finish quickly, ask them to add context/ people ____________________________ ________________
___ minutes
/devices/products/ _____________to each post it. ____________________________ ________________
Around the room, everyone explains their timeline to the group. ____________________________ ________________

Instructions Followup questions Materials

Followup questions Materials
Understanding mental models

MINDMAP
To map user relationships
with a specific industry
or type of products
___ minutes
Draw a mindmap capturing all the relationships you currently have ____________________________
with institutions within the ______________________industry. ____________________________
____________________________
Add to the mindmap all the products/services you currently have ____________________________
or use from each of these institutions. ____________________________
____________________________
OPTIONAL: Add any other past/extinguished relationship with ____________________________
institutions/products/services and mark them with a cross. ____________________________
____________________________
Around the room, everyone explains their mindmap to the group. ____________________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________

Instructions Followup
Followup questions
questions Materials
Materials
Understanding mental models

(You should have previously prepared a list of items/contents to be ____________________________ ________________

CARDSORTING
To understand users'
mental model for a
specific domain
___ minutes
sorted and written each item on a separate card. Each team will ____________________________ ________________
receive a set of cards so you will most-likely need a few sets.) ____________________________ ________________
____________________________ ________________
Work in teams to organise the cards into logical groups and give each ____________________________ ________________
group a descriptive label. There is no right or wrong, they can be ____________________________ ________________
sorted in different ways. (Move around and listen to the conversations ____________________________ ________________
within each team). ____________________________ ________________
____________________________ ________________
At the end, each team shares how they organised the cards and why. ____________________________ ________________

Instructions Followup
Followup questions
questions Materials
Materials
What we are trying to explore today is ____________________________ ________________
Ideation and co-creation

BRAINSTORMING _____________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________

To generate new ideas
individually first and then
build upon others' ideas
___ minutes
____________________________
Write one idea per post-it. Use as many post-its as you want. ____________________________
After ___ minutes, everyone explains their ideas to the group. ____________________________
____________________________
(Stick the post-its on the wall or a paper in the middle of the table ____________________________
so everyone can see them. Place similar ideas together or nearby.) ____________________________
____________________________
Participants can come up with new ideas as they hear others. ____________________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________
________________

Instructions Followup
Followup questions
questions Materials
Materials

What we are trying to explore today is ____________________________ ________________

SKETCHING
Ideation and co-creation

_____________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________

____________________________ ________________
To generate new ideas ____________________________ ________________
Make one sketch to illustrate each of your ideas (separate pages).
tapping into a different ____________________________ ________________
After ___minutes, everyone explains their sketches to the group.
part ____________________________ ________________
of the brain (visual) ____________________________ ________________
(Stick the sketches on the wall or a paper in the middle of the table
so everyone can see them. Place similar ideas together or nearby.) ____________________________ ________________
___ minutes ____________________________ ________________
Participants can come up with new ideas as they hear others. ____________________________ ________________

Instructions Followup questions Materials

BUILDING BLOCKS/
What we are trying to design today is
PAPER PROTOTYPE
Ideation and co-creation

_____________________________________________________
To involve people in the
We have created a set of building blocks (paper sketches) that might
design process and collect
be worth considering including in the design. Feel free to use all the
ideas about items to be
building blocks provided, only a few, or create your own.
included/excluded,
You can also scribble on each building block to add considerations.
priority, flow and layout

After ___ minutes, everyone explains their proposed design, their

___ minutes
rationale behind it and why they discarded or added building blocks.

Any feedback or suggestion?

UX WORKSHOP
UX WORKSHOP TOOLKIT
TOOLKITBY
BY elena.sanchez@sitback.com.au
 SCRIPT BUILDING BLOCKS (Page 2 of 3)
Followup questions Materials
Instructions

Distribute the different options on a wall or over the table. Each person
ASSIGNING DOTS or group receives a limited number of dots. They need to stick them to
the most important options for them.
Prioritising

To prioritise a list of
options using a limited (They can assign the dots in different ways: one dot to 3 different
amount of dots options, 3 dots to the same option or 1 dot to one and 2 to another)

___ minutes OPTIONAL: Go around the room and each person explains where they
assigned their dots and why.

Instructions Followup questions Materials

Materials
Distribute the different options on a wall or over the table. ________________
DISTRIBUTING MONEY ________________
Each person or group receives a limited amount of monopoly money ________________
Prioritising

To prioritise a list of and they need to assign amounts depending upon importance. Followup questions ________________
options using a limited ________________
amount of money (You can assign the money in different ways: all the money to one ________________
option or different amounts of money to several options…) ________________
___ minutes ________________
Optional: Go around the room and each person explains where they ________________
assigned their money and why. ________________

Instructions Followup questions Materials

Followup questions Materials
Have the different options on cards (one option per card) and ____________________________ ________________
X/Y AXIS a big X/Y axis on the wall/blackboard/table: ____________________________ ________________
The X axis represents ______________________________ ____________________________ ________________
Prioritising

To prioritise a list of The Y axis represents ______________________________ ____________________________ ________________

options based on 2 ____________________________ ________________
dimensions Pick one card at a time and ask the group to discuss what numeric value ____________________________ ________________
should be assigned to this card for X and Y. ____________________________ ________________
___ minutes Once decided, place the card in the axis based on its values. ____________________________ ________________
____________________________ ________________
Make a list of the top priorities considering both dimensions. ____________________________ ________________

Followup questions Materials

Instructions Followup questions Materials
____________________________ ________________
We want to understand what works and what does not work in ____________________________ ________________
RED AND GREEN
Gathering feedback

____________________________ ________________
_____________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________
To identify strengths &
weaknesses of current ____________________________ ________________
Each group/ person, take a copy and mark in green what you think ____________________________ ________________
interfaces/designs
works and in red what you think does not work and could be improved. ____________________________ ________________
___ minutes ____________________________ ________________
Around the room, each group/person shares what they marked in green ____________________________ ________________
and red and why (all things or just the 3 most important ones) ____________________________ ________________

Followup questions Materials

Instructions Followup questions Materials
Based on the information we had, we made a first attempt at ____________________________ ________________
EDIT/ADD/REMOVE ____________________________ ________________
Gathering feedback

____________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________

To get input to refine ____________________________ ________________
or complete a list of and we would like your input to prepare a revised version.
____________________________ ________________
requirements, a design, IA ____________________________ ________________
sitemap or deliverable Take a copy and have a close look at it. You can move things around,
add, update or remove items. Feel free to scribble on it or turn the paper ____________________________ ________________
over and create your own from scratch. ____________________________ ________________
___ minutes ____________________________ ________________
Around the room, everyone explains what they changed and why. ____________________________ ________________

Instructions Followup questions Materials

Followup questions Materials
(You will need a card set with random pictures on them. You can create ____________________________ ________________
PICTURE CARDS your own or buy online (e.g. "Picture this" from Innovative Resources). ____________________________ ________________
Gathering feedback

Distribute all the picture cards on a table/wall/floor) ____________________________ ________________

To gather personal ____________________________ ________________
opinions and feelings What we are trying to explore today is "how do you feel about
____________________________ ________________
about a specific __________________________________________________?"
____________________________ ________________
situation/brand/design ____________________________ ________________
Each person picks 2/3 picture cards that will help them explain
his/her views, opinions or feelings about the topic or the question. ____________________________ ________________
___ minutes ____________________________ ________________
(sometimes the idea comes first, for others a picture sparks an idea)
Each participant takes turns to explain his/her ideas using the cards. ____________________________ ________________

Any feedback or suggestion?

UX WORKSHOP
UX WORKSHOP TOOLKIT
TOOLKITBY
BY elena.sanchez@sitback.com.au
 SCRIPT BUILDING BLOCKS (Page 3 of 3)
Instructions Followup questions Materials needed
(ACTIVITY TITLE)
_______________________
Custom activity

(Purpose)________________

_______________________
_______________________

___ minutes

Instructions Followup questions Materials needed

(ACTIVITY
(ACTIVITY TITLE)
________________
)________________
TITLE_______________________
________________
________________
Custom activity

Instructions
(Purpose)____________________
(Purpose)________________ ________________
Followup questions ________________
___________________________
_______________________
________________
___________________________
_______________________ ________________
________________
___ minutes
___ minutes ________________
________________

Instructions
Instructions Followup questions Materials needed
(ACTIVITY TITLE)
(ACTIVITY
____________________________ ________________
)________________
TITLE_______________________ _____________________________________________________________
____________________________ ________________
______________________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________
Custom activity

(Purpose)____________________
(Purpose)________________ ____________________________ ________________
______________________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________
___________________________
_______________________
______________________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________
___________________________
_______________________ ____________________________ ________________
______________________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________
___ minutes
___ minutes _______________________________________________________________ ____________________________ ________________
____________________________ ________________

Key topics to be covered: Any questions? Or next steps? Materials needed

RECAP
To present research insights or
other info as context for next
activity or the full workshop

___ minutes

Key topics to be covered: Any questions? Or next steps? Materials needed

RECAP
To present research insights or
other info as context for next
activity or the full workshop

___ minutes

Key topics to be covered: Any questions? Or next steps? Materials needed

RECAP
To present research insights or
other info as context for next
activity or the full workshop

___ minutes

BREAK
____ minutes

BREAK
____ minutes

BREAK
____ minutes

Any feedback or suggestion?

UX WORKSHOP
UX WORKSHOP TOOLKIT
TOOLKITBY
BY elena.sanchez@sitback.com.au