CHARTER
Step 2 | Establish roles & sponsorship
Establishing strong sponsorship and a solid project team and at the onset of the design journey process, and maintaining a high level of support throughout the engagement, are critical for success. Here is a breakdown of suggested roles and sponsorship guidelines:
Executive sponsorship
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Sponsor Team (approx. 4-10 people) | • Guide the strategic direction of the project and serve as change leadership champions. • Establish clear goals, secure participation, set expectations, identify issues or obstacles and resolve. • Appoint the design team and ensure the team includes people who can implement what they design, without needing to obtain additional approval. • Provide strategic insight for the Inspiration Approach to define knowledge scan areas, key stakeholders, and thought leaders. • Ensure resources are engaged to meet the needs of the project. • Own the transformation and the outcome and provide on-going guidance and feedback. • Participate in monthly check-in calls with Project Team. |
| Core Sponsors (approx. 1-2 people) | • Actively participate as leaders on the larger Sponsor Team as outlined above. • Designated as the client primary point of contact for the Project Team on day-to-day activities, questions, needs, etc. related to the design journey. • Serves as a Sponsor Team liaison for the Project Team. • Participates in additional advisory and planning calls beyond the monthly check-in calls with Sponsor Team. |
Project team
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Engagement Leader | Responsible for overall project accountability, deliverables, team, quality, client satisfaction, budget, and sponsor communications. |
| Inspiration Leader | Accountable for a Design Journey phase: work effort, team management, client satisfaction, quality, and budget. Ensures Inspiration plan and materials are completed to support design. On-site guide for any Inspiration related activities during accelerated design sessions. |
| Accelerated Design Leader | Accountable for a Design Journey phase: work effort, team management, client satisfaction, quality, and budget. Engages with Sponsors and; Engagement Leader to ensure all accelerated design sessions are designed and executed to meet goals and deliverables. Lead facilitator during sessions. |
| Test Sprints Leader | Accountable for a Design Journey phase: work effort, team management, client satisfaction, quality, and budget. Ensures test sprint plan and materials are completed to support design. On-site guide for any test planning efforts during accelerated design sessions. Provides coaching and advisory to test sprint teams and leaders. |
| Process Facilitator | Works hand-in-hand with Accelerated Design Leader to ensure all session logistics are completed to deliver session design. Supports lead facilitator to ensure session runs smoothly. Responsible for knowledge capture during each session. |
| Logistics Manager | Works hand-in-hand with Engagement Leader. Accountable for overall project work plan, scheduling, communications, monthly progress report, logistics for all virtual and in-person sessions, and manages shared knowledge management folder. |
Notes: Depending on the size of your team, people may need to take on more than one role. For example, one person could do both the Process Facilitator and Logistics Manager roles, and the Engagement Leader could also take on a leadership role for one of the design journey phases, etc. We recommend having at least three people on a Project Team to make the workload manageable. We strongly recommend certification in ExperienceInnovation™ as a prerequisite for all engagement and phase leaders.