Set a goal

A clear goal is key to building a cohesive Design Jam. Crafted well, it can help you make smart decisions, plan the event smoothly and improve the overall quality of Jam outputs.

Develop your goal by thinking of the following:

• Motivation: What is your role in your organisation? What gap or need are you hoping to address with a Jam?
• Rationale: Why is a Jam the best solution to improve your current situation? What aspect are you hoping to leverage?
• Impact: What immediate outputs do you expect the Jam to accomplish? How would you like participants to change how they think and work?

Then, synthesise your notes into a goal statement:

• Goal for legal or policy team: "I want to help my colleagues design more people-centric data solutions. A Jam will empower them to think creatively by immersing them in design thinking methodology."
• Goal for a data startup owner: "I want to design a user-consent interface for my app. A Jam that focuses on prototyping to address my design challenge can help me come up with a diverse set of solutions that I could then test."

Choose the participants who need to be involved in the Jam to help you reach your goal. Consider a mix of practitioners and thought leaders from relevant sectors and industries that have a mix of business, design and data-related knowledge and skills.

Then, identify the people whose support would help you achieve your Jam goal. Consider the following:

• Facilitation team: The people who will help you run the Jam (see Manage logistics)
• Experts: The people whose experience and expertise in a specific subject matter will help ensure that solutions are innovative and feasible (see Select and orientate experts)
• Stakeholders: The people inside your organisation who need to approve the event and whose involvement could make the outputs more actionable
• Partners: The people outside your organisation who have expertise that you might lack (i.e. a policymaker might need help from a design firm)

From participants to partners, remember that diversity is key and that there should be a mix of complementary and divergent voices.

Your Jam theme is essentially an outward-facing version of your internal goal. Synthesise your goal into a compelling theme by combining the most salient elements of your goal and ensuring that it will resonate with your target participants.

Here is an example of a theme that was converted from a goal:

• Goal: "I want to help my colleagues design more people-centric data solutions. A Jam will empower them to think creatively by immersing them in design thinking methodology."
• Theme: "Intro to Design Thinking for Data Policymakers"

Decide on the right combination of tools that will help you empower participants to achieve your goal. Emphasise Discover tools if your goal is to inform and educate; emphasise Ideate tools if your goal is to inspire and spark creativity; and emphasise Prototype tools if your goal is to produce solutions.

Then, outline your selected tools in the form of a rough Jam schedule that you can iterate with your fellow organisers. In your first meeting, discuss and align on your initial thoughts on the Jam goal, theme and people to involve.