Google Sheets

Introduction

Google Sheets provide a data collection tool that can be used to track a design process, whether your own or a team’s. Students track how many hours they spent each week on different design process categories. The data can then be converted to a design signature visual using the Design Signatures app.

This method was designed for asynchronous data collection (for example, for a capstone project, students may input data once a week).

Benefits of this capture method

Can easily be shared with students/teams for collective access.
The data are collected digitally so the instructor has full access to the data during/after the design experience.
Can be filled out on behalf of a whole team by a single student or completed individually by all team members.

NOTE: In this implementation, Google Sheets are used solely as a data collection tool, not a visualization tool. Once the data are collected (either along the way or at the end) they can be converted to a visual signature using the DS App, entering in each set of weekly hours.

Instructions

Create a simple Google Form with 3 main sections:

Name of team (or recorder)
List of design process categories (plus brief definitions if needed)
Matrix question with time intervals as rows and design process phases as columns. (Note: if there are more than 10 time intervals, consider dividing this question into several parts - i.e. Minutes 1-10, Minutes 11-20, etc.)
(optional) Open response section for other notes/observations

Here's a template Google Sheet for reference - note that the Option 1 tab is for the whole team and the Option 2 tab is for individual team members.

Option 1: Full Team

‍

Option 2: Individual Team Members

Outcomes

Coming soon!

Tips and advice

Prepare the template in advance with the desired design process categories and share it with the design teams/students.

Establish a mechanism to ensure students track their data weekly - for example, send a weekly reminder or request the information in a weekly progress report

Consider the frequency of converting to the design signature visualization. At a minimum, this can be done at the end of the design experience, but then students do not get the benefit of reviewing/discussing their (evolving) design signature. A more recommended approach is to create the visualizations along the way (not necessarily every week, though that would be possible) to enable reflection. The visualizations can be made by the instructor or by the students themselves.

One advantage to having students collect the data on a Google Sheet rather than directly in the DS App is that the spreadsheet is accessible to all members of the team and the instructor. The Google Sheet provides a more permanent record of the data that can later be processed in other ways if desired.