Project canvas and how I used it

Intro

Most recently I joined the redesign of the digital acquisition journey at a utilities company where I was focusing on defining the key UX & UI activities. A large amount of research has been done, and the project was about to start. Designers were added to the project to start taking all the research in and get ready for the sprints.

One thing I was missing was a bit more alignment. The company was open to new ways of working and I was aware that aligning bigger teams and ready them for UX UI work could always do with a bit of extra care; so I decided to include a project canvas session a week before the design sprints started.

The canvas I used was made up of 12 elements organised into 4 columns, which focus on what, who, how, why. These are probably the most important questions you need to answer to help you find the right answer to the right problem.

See the canvas I used below:

In other words, you can use a canvas to align your team and make sure the pillars to your project (problem, goal, vision, audience…) are well grounded.

While working on the canvas you will uncover the missing pieces to the puzzle and see what needs more work or what assumptions need to be tested and validated. At least, this is what I learnt from using the canvas.

In my case this meant I could have a single source of truth to align the team I was working with based on these canvas pillars.

I also gained a better understanding of the current state of the project, sort of a bird eye view of what needs more attention so I could focus on the right thing at the right time.

Please note, the canvas I used was slightly different to what Clearleft proposes. It had ‘Problem’ at the top of the first pillar and Clearleft’s has ‘Proposition’ there. For me ‘Problem’ was a simpler way to super-quick align team on what the problem was.

See the difference here:

Before the canvas session I had to think about what I am going to need prior to the session. Let’s take a look at the steps I took to create a workshop I was happy with.

Step 1: define the team

Make sure you involve the right people in the session. In our case there were also new people joining, some who were planned to take lead and some who were planned to support.

Step 2: check the calendar & send invites

Picking the right time so everyone is available is always a bit of a challenge. If you need to invite people with super busy calendars you can always think about who needs to be there all the way through and who can hop in and join for a shorter part of the workshop.

With my sprints planned I also wanted to make sure I didn’t start the sprints with ‘Ohh I didn’t know that’ I planned the workshop 10 days before the kickoff. You might need to do a bit of explanation why would do an exercise before the sprint but you can say: this to ensure a smooth start and allowing some extra time for unplanned work.

Step 3: prep the canvas

Step 4: write up the agenda

Once I was done with my prep all I had to do is get my agenda straight. This helps a lot to make sure your canvas session goes as smooth as possible and give structure to your session and makes sure you include everything you want to talk about.

I also suggest a ‘parking lot’ where you can save ideas and thoughts not strictly related to the canvas session but to the project otherwise.

It is also a good point in the agenda to include a ‘workshop etiquette’ to ensure all participant have an understanding of dos and donts while in the workshop which will help avoid time spent on otherwise avoidable misunderstandings.

Step 5: facilitate the workshop

There you are, ready for your workshop. Well, for some of us this is the scariest bit, but with a decent prep it shouldn’t be a problem. Make sure you think about the agenda for the session and which ‘elements’ of the canvas to start with.

Starting with the ones which require the least work is probably a good way as getting these done quickly will leave more time for the more complicated ones; eg: I started with checking the stakeholders and core team elements and left the Vision, Goals and Outcomes for the second part of the session as these required more discussion.

Step 6: follow up activities

It is quite easy to see which elements will require a follow up activity. My canvas session was a kick off to the design phase and the main reason was alignment. If the canvas is a kick off to the discovery work then the canvas will probably be assumptions heavy so I would imagine quite a few follow up activities focusing on various elements of the canvas.

It is also worth checking the canvas at the end of a sprint to make sure this is a living document. This can be just a 5–10 mins review at the beginning of the end of sprint review or a standup to make sure any changes are visible to all members of the team.

The project canvas is a good tool to align your team when it comes to either the discovery or the define phase of the double diamond design framework. It helps creating a shared understanding.

It is up to you how you use this awesome tool. Feel free to adjust it whatever your goal is. You don’t have to super strictly follow and copy the exact the canvas. With practice you will learnt to adjsut it to make it work for you. Once you ar comfortable using it it will soon become a piece of cake.

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