Innovating
Through
Uncertainty
Design Sprints for Trust & Safety, TSPA EMEA SUMMIT - May 7, 2025
Workshop Goal
Develop foundational knowledge and hands-on experience in applying design sprints methods to address critical challenges in Trust & Safety.
Summary
This interactive workshop, presented at the TSPA EMEA Summit, introduced Trust & Safety professionals to core design sprint principles and essential methods. The aim was to equip them to tackle critical, often emerging, challenges like generative AI and deepfakes. Participants gained hands-on experience in framing complex problems as actionable challenge statements and collaboratively generating initial user-centered solutions. The session emphasized agile responses, cross-functional collaboration, and leaving with a tangible artifact – a shared challenge statement and initial concepts.
My Role
As the designer and sole facilitator of the "Design Sprints for Trust & Safety: Innovating Through Uncertainty" workshop, my role encompassed the entire lifecycle of this session. Leveraging my background as a UX lead with extensive experience in complex and sensitive domains, including Trust & Safety and Cybersecurity, I was responsible for drafting and submitting the proposal to the TSPA EMEA Summit. Following acceptance, I developed the workshop content, including the structured agenda, practical exercises, and supporting materials, adapting the design sprint methodology/instruction for this context. Finally, I facilitated the workshop itself.
Problem
Trust & Safety professionals constantly face the challenge of adapting to emerging threats and the rapid pace of innovation, which can serve as both a threat and a tool in their field. Effectively addressing these complex, often sensitive issues requires not only domain expertise but also structured methods for collaboration, rapid problem-solving, and generating user-centered solutions. Traditional processes can sometimes feel slow and less adaptable to the unpredictable nature of the digital landscape. There was a need to equip practitioners with a practical, repeatable methodology to proactively tackle these issues and contribute to a stronger community of practice.
Solution
The "Design Sprints for Trust & Safety: Innovating Through Uncertainty" workshop was designed as a practical solution. The 90-minute in-person session provided participants with foundational knowledge of the design sprint framework and hands-on experience with essential methods.
Defining the Challenge: Framing complex Trust & Safety issues (like generative AI or deepfakes) into actionable problem statements using the "Sprint Brief" (What, Who, When). Participants practiced individual drafting and collaborative refinement to align on a single challenge statement.
Collaborative Ideation: Rapidly generating user-centered solutions through brainstorming and sketching exercises. Groups shared and provided feedback on their initial concepts.
Prioritization & Concept Development: Using methods like dot voting to quickly narrow down ideas and developing prioritized solutions into initial concepts, specifically by crafting a "Feature Snapshot" (or future press release). This resulted in a tangible artifact by the session's end.
The workshop structure, including time-boxing and timed activities, aimed to foster quick decision-making and collaboration among participants.
Trade Offs
Facilitating a design sprint workshop within the tight timeframe of 90 minutes presented several key tradeoffs. This duration necessitated selecting and adapting only core principles and essential methods from the broader design sprint framework. A significant challenge was effectively pacing the activities within defined timeboxes, ensuring that each segment, from individual drafting to collaborative refinement and concept development, could be completed without feeling overly rushed. The constraint of fitting a substantial amount of process into 90 minutes with total strangers was the primary issue here. Participants in the post-workshop survey explicitly indicated a desire for "more time for each segment". Additionally, fostering deep collaboration and quick decision-making among the approximately 22 participants who were initially strangers required structured icebreakers and facilitation to build rapport and align groups efficiently within the compressed schedule. Despite these time and group dynamics limitations, the workshop structure was designed to ensure that every group could successfully navigate the selected methods and produce a tangible artifact – a shared challenge statement and initial concepts in the form of a Feature Snapshot – by the session's conclusion.
Lessons Learned
The post-workshop survey feedback provided valuable insights for refining future sessions. A key lesson learned is the need to adjust session pacing and length. Participants consistently requested "A little more time for each segment" and expressed a desire for "a longer session". This suggests that while the condensed format effectively introduced core concepts, participants found the hands-on exercises highly valuable and wanted more time to delve deeper into them, highlighting the inherent challenge of fitting the breadth and depth of design sprint methods into a 90-minute window, especially with participants who are new to each other.
Impact
Quantitative feedback highlighted strong outcomes:
85.7% of participants rated the overall workshop as Excellent, with the remaining 14.3% rating it as Good.
71.4% found it Very Effective in understanding design sprint methods, and 28.6% found it Effective. This directly supports the workshop's goal of developing foundational knowledge and hands-on experience.
The relevance of the T&S challenges explored was also highly rated, with 71.4% finding them Very Relevant and 14.3% finding them Relevant. This confirms that focusing on issues like generative AI and deepfakes resonated with the audience.
The usefulness of the collaborative exercises was strongly affirmed, with 71.4% rating them as Very Useful and 28.6% as Useful. This underscores the value of the hands-on, interactive approach taken in the workshop.
A combined 85.8% of participants indicated they were Very Likely or Likely to apply the methods learned, aligning with the workshop's aim to empower practitioners and encourage integration of sprint principles into their work.
The workshop had a significant positive impact on participants, as reflected in the overwhelmingly positive survey feedback. The session received top ratings for its overall quality and effectiveness.
“ Very interesting and effective....Loved It”
The strong positive feedback across multiple dimensions demonstrates that the workshop successfully delivered on its goals, providing Trust & Safety professionals with valuable knowledge and practical experience in applying design sprint methods to navigate the uncertainties of their field.
Resources
Want to explore more from the 'Design Sprints for Trust & Safety: Innovating Through Uncertainty' workshop? I’ve made the full presentation and accompanying handout materials available for download. These resources contain key concepts, exercises, and examples aimed at helping professionals like you proactively tackle emerging threats, such as generative AI and deepfakes, and develop user-centered solutions. I’m pleased to share these materials, as participants specifically requested them in post-workshop surveys, highlighting their value for continued learning and practical application.
