Requirements to prototype in two weeks
When competing for a federal contract, teams are often thrown together for a rapid-fire technical challenge. The idea is to demonstrate not only that a given organization has the technical skills, but that the proposed team can work together to achieve a goal, using a given framework. I was put forth as the UX lead for a GSA contract, and the first step to winning was for me to lead a group who'd never worked together before in a two-week challenge.
Gel instantly
As a team, we knew that we'd be assessed on how we worked together, and the processes we put in place. My focus was getting designers from multiple organizations to gel more or less instantly and under intense pressure without overwhelming them (or myself). This meant a very fast division of labor into teams, with clear assignments, leads, and avenues for support. We started with a kickoff -- and an ice breaker, because how can you be expected to work well with people you don't know at all?
Lead, but also get hands-on
We had just shy of two weeks to meet, understand the tasks, do the research, wireframe processes, and validate the solutions. I needed to help put together the presentation to government, while managing what became two design teams. I also needed to step in and support the research chunk of the equation by conducting user interviews centered around wireframes. The end result was a functioning research and design process that yielded a series of wireframes validated with real-world GSA users, and ultimately the contract we were competing for. The work we'd done as part of the tech challenge was then rolled into the product planning for the first few months of the contract.