Rethinking Production Tools — Week 3

Speed Dating

This week we use a speed dating format to rapidly explore and refine tool ideas across small groups. The goal is to come away with a shortlist of strong concepts to pursue.

Agenda

  • Speed dating exercise — each group presents their ideas in rotating sessions
  • Group discussion and feedback

Speed Dating Format

Diagram illustrating the speed dating format for idea presentations.
Speed dating format: groups rotate through short presentation and feedback sessions.

In the speed dating exercise, each group has a short window to present their ideas to a small audience. The audience then provides rapid feedback before rotating. This format allows every group to hear a wide range of perspectives on their ideas in a short amount of time.

The goal is not to arrive at a final idea, but to stress-test existing ideas and potentially discover new directions through exposure to other groups' thinking.

Assignment

For next week, each group needs to prepare a presentation that states their final idea. The presentation must answer these questions:

  • What problem is the tool trying to solve?
  • How is the user going to use the tool?
  • What type of software is this going to be? (library, native app, web app)