Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/prototyping-lesson-2-build-your-design-team-to-get-diverse-ideas-and-fast-feedback-5aa9ad3e44ce?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Natalia Tsymbalenko 
Prototyping in the group widens idea spectrum and provides fast feedback to iterate quickly.
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*LJj4hmOES-c0DYj4Kwg89A.jpeg">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/UCZF1sXcejo?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Štefan Štefančík</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>
So, <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/prototyping-lesson-1-prepare-your-prototyping-mindset-fd275b4a2b7d">you are convinced that rapid paper prototyping </a>for digital products is a way to go. As a solo founder of the startup, you need to find a way to get feedback as early and as often as possible, using paper prototypes.
Here is one of the ways to do it.
I trust you that you are aware of the <a href="https://medium.com/lean-startup-circle/lean-customer-development-in-action-6a894ed4ebd9">customer development concept</a> and actively working on that. You need to have your earlyevangelists ready soon to test the prototypes with them.
But before that, there is a way to get additional designers involved for early feedback.
I use <a href="http://www.plusacumen.org/courses/prototyping">+Acumen course on Prototyping</a> as a way
<ul>
<li>to collaborate with my existing design team (that I have built <a href="https://medium.com/lean-startup-circle/how-to-engage-community-to-co-create-a-value-proposition-for-them-3bebc8aeca72">as a part of the design process</a> for my startup)</li>
<li>to engage more designers to collect additional ideas and get outsider’s feedback.</li>
</ul>
Key to a coherent design team is to communicate clearly:
<ul>
<li>the mission of your startup;</li>
<li>objectives for a design engagement;</li>
<li>expectations — what do you expect from each member to accomplish (based on their strengths and interests)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Building design team</h3>
First, I have reached to my fellow designer — <a href="https://medium.com/u/21255f96ccec">Sofya Savkina</a>, a great helper with marketing and graphic design. And I have asked her for a weekly meeting so I can share my progress and get feedback on what I do.
As time went, she got involved more and more, as she saw a potential in this <a href="https://medium.com/lean-startup-circle/where-do-you-start-in-your-startup-e826605c29dc">initiative</a>.
Than, I have used <a href="https://beta.openideo.com/chapters">local chapter of OpenIDEO</a> to advertise Human-Center-Design opportunity to fellow designers.
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/971/1*PH-qeKAX2ue3xnP30B42Ag.png">Engage with your local design community to get supporter and helpers
I have a got a trusted partner from the network — <a href="https://medium.com/u/9b1ee67c116d">Elisa Chen</a>, who is incredible at Ideation session facilitation and prototyping.
After<a href="https://medium.com/lean-startup-circle/how-to-engage-community-to-co-create-a-value-proposition-for-them-3bebc8aeca72"> a great exposure in the local maternal health community </a>— we have got a great addition — <a href="https://medium.com/u/b44a77a48faa">Kisha Semenuk</a> — a veteran of the maternal mental health community who relentlessly pushes boundaries of what is possible in the healthcare system.
As we have organized the design team on +Acumen platform, another mom with design passion joined us — from Turkey!
So, at this point, we — Motherhood design team — a globally distributed team of 5!)
<img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/574/1*DAB9DOVoxmztwqwgQx2hyw.png">Build you design team on +Acumen to achieve a clearly specified objectives
<h3>Streamlining remote collaboration</h3>
Remote collaboration would work, if you, as a team leader:
<ul>
<li>streamline assignments</li>
</ul>
I use google docs to create weekly assignments, we use comments to clarify it. Members post their deliverables in the same doc. This way everybody is aware of the progress and obstacles
<ul>
<li>setup a schedule upfront</li>
</ul>
We have agreed to have a predefined schedule for the calls and intent for each call for the course duration — 4 weeks
<ul>
<li>active listen to each member and incorporate feedback</li>
</ul>
This is my favorite part — relax, and listen! — each puts their time and effort — so, you , as a leader, better appreciate a good intent, even sometimes that disrupts your neatly organize workflow of what should be done.
Read next post where I will share how we are progressing with prototyping and testing solutions with earlyevangelists.
This is a post from series #productdesign where I practice product design and customer development.
Follow me to see product design journey from scratch.
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<a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/prototyping-lesson-2-build-your-design-team-to-get-diverse-ideas-and-fast-feedback-5aa9ad3e44ce">Prototyping lesson #2: Build your design team to get diverse ideas and fast feedback</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Prototyping lesson #2: Build your design team to get diverse ideas and fast feedback

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