It takes a lot of effort to complete a remote design sprint. As a result, it is not surprising that there are a wealth of guidelines, toolkits and tutorials available for the facilitators who will lead them.

However, what about the Sprint team? After all, they are the ones who face the toughest learning curve and need to figure out how to connect, communicate, and build a solution in a completely new environment on the fly.

As a result, understanding the problems that teams and facilitators will encounter together is important to the success of any remote exercise. With that in mind, here are three pitfalls to consider, along with some creative solutions and time-saving tips to help you overcome them.

1. Knowledge of technology and tools are not the same.

Your team's ability to use digital collaboration tools is critical to the success of a remote Sprint. It also requires the ability for everyone to contribute equally to tasks. However, it is inevitable that some people are more competent and comfortable with these tools than others.

Some useful ideas

Make a list of all the "important actions" that your team will need to complete during your sprint using the technologies and platforms you have chosen. Making a sticky note, for example, would be an example of such an action if you were using Mural. Know how to use a breakout room if you are using Zoom. Then, with each of your team members, conduct one-on-one onboarding sessions where you give them a mini-tutorial on each crucial step, along with practice exercises to help them master it. This way, you can get everyone up to the same basic level of expertise while also seeing who on your team may need additional help.

2. Feeling disconnected

Disconnection and lack of engagement are two of the most difficult issues for remote sprint teams to overcome. It is vital to remember that these difficulties are not problems in themselves. Rather, they are symptoms of underlying problems that need to be addressed at the source such as:

- Not knowing or believing in the importance of the sprint challenge.

- Not understanding their work or how they contribute to achieving the sprint challenge.

- Inability to see their development while in the remote process (as they progress through the sessions, they do not have a sense of achievement).

- Being overloaded.

- Not having time to reflect alone.

- Not having pleasant moments or breaks.

- Off-topic debates.

- Disconcerting flow of conversation.

- Inability to perceive or understand body language through video conferencing.

 Some useful ideas

To address the issues raised above, you will need to employ a multi-touchpoint strategy. Just having icebreakers, for example, is not enough. Instead, at each stage of your sprint, you will need both preventative and reactive methods. Consider the following scenario:

- An extensive report that puts the Sprint Challenge in context.

- Have a tight schedule for sprint activities that directs the dialogue in turn minute by minute.

- Explicitly define the work of each participant and motivate them individually before the sprint.

- A tool that allows participants to record their emotional state after each work session and share it with the team and facilitator.

- A customizable sprint plan that includes online and offline sessions to allow "thinking alone."

- A "parking" area on your whiteboards for participants to write down ideas, themes or notes they have throughout an exercise while staying focused on the task at hand.

- Include icebreakers and engaging activities on your collaboration boards to make them enjoyable and productive to use.

- Built-in progress trackers on your digital whiteboards,

- Daily team discussions before and after sessions to summarize the previous day's work, prepare the team for upcoming assignments and encourage them to perform at their best.

3. Screen fatigue and cognitive fatigue

No surprises in this one! It is mentally and physically exhausting to stare at a screen for hours on end. Back pain, eye strain, and decreased concentration worsen as the sprint days progress. It's enough to dampen the spirits of the most enthusiastic speed teams!

Some useful ideas

Fortunately, these problems are easy to solve. You'll want to make sure your speed team is comfortable to avoid screen fatigue. The ideal method to achieve this is to have a personalized onboarding session during which you can discuss each participant's setup separately. Are they, for example, in a room with natural light? Are the monitor and camera set up in a way that doesn't give you neck pain?

You will need a combination of preventive and reactive techniques to combat cognitive fatigue. For example, an updated sprint plan that divides work periods into online and offline work sessions, as well as team and individual tasks. So your team isn't limited to one continuous online session, they can switch between multiple types of tasks that need a variety of different talents. This modular sprint plan will also allow you to run your sprint at a time that is convenient for your team.

You'll also want to make sure your team accomplishes as much pre-sprint learning as possible, rather than exercises to decrease cognitive load (which is the mental stress of being exposed to a lot of new material in a short period of time). It's okay for people to learn how to do an activity while executing it in an in-person sprint. However, this can be tiring and time-consuming in a remote session. As a result, it's a good idea to include examples and practice exercises so your team understands how to wait when assigned a task.