Template

Design review template

One design, shown early, with the questions the designer actually wants answered.

45 minutesFor Designers, engineers and product managersAgenda room
Change the agenda first

The agenda, with a time for each part

  1. What problem this solves5 min
    • Who is this for, and what are they trying to do?
  2. Walk through the design12 min
    • Show it the way a person would use it, start to finish.
  3. What I want feedback on10 min
    • Which two things am I unsure about?
  4. What worries people10 min
    • What will be hard to build?
    • Where will somebody get lost?
  5. What changes, and what stays8 min
    • What will I change before the next review, and what is settled?

How the notes read afterwards

A made-up example, so you can see the shape. In a real call each line carries the words that were said and who said them.

Problem. New users do not find the invite button; 60% never add a second person.

Feedback wanted. Whether the invite step belongs before or after the first call.

Changes. Move it after the first call. The wording of the button is settled.

Running it well

Ways to change it

Written reviewPost the design with your two questions and give people a day to answer.
With engineers onlySpend the time on what is hard to build and what could be cut to ship sooner.

When to skip it. When the design is finished and you want approval. That is a sign-off, and it takes five minutes.

Questions

What is a design review?

A meeting where a designer shows work in progress and gets feedback on specific questions, before it is built.

Who should be in a design review?

The designer, one engineer who will build it, the product manager, and one person who has not seen it before.

What happens in the room

Everybody joins from the link, with no account. The agenda sits beside the call and each item fills in with what was said about it, under the name of the person who said it.

More templates

Backlog refinementGo through what is coming next, make each item small and clear enough to start, and throw out what will never be done.User research interviewOne customer, in their own words: what they were trying to do, what they did, and where it went wrong.Lessons learned meetingAt the end of a project: what to do again, what never to do again, and where those lessons will be kept so the next project finds them.Go/no-go meetingBefore a launch: each owner says ready or not ready, and one person makes the call.Sprint reviewAt the end of a sprint: show what was finished, hear what the people it is for think, and change what comes next.Project kickoffWhy the project exists, what done means, and who owns what — agreed on day one.Sprint retrospectiveWhat went well, what did not, and the one or two changes you will actually make.Sprint planningOne goal for the sprint, the work that serves it, and who takes what.

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