Practica

skill sprints

Practica’s Skill Sprints are 1 - 3 day, facilitated training sessions designed for public-serving institutions that want to improve customer experience (CX). In just a few days, your team will build targeted human-centered design skills while working through a focused, customer experience challenge. Together, you’ll grow as a team and leave with practical skills, a shared language, and a clearer path to improving how people experience your services.

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skills

Explore our skills workshops, tailored to your team’s schedule. Focus on building a single skill or combine workshops to create a learning experience that fits your needs.

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Intro to Human-Centered Design (HCD) Sprint

This sprint builds foundational HCD knowledge through an applied, rapid HCD cycle. Participants learn core concepts and immediately use them to advance a priority service, workflow, or artifact.

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Storytelling Sprint: Building Support for Change

This sprint strengthens participants’ ability to translate research and lived experience into stories that move decision-making. Participants explore multiple forms storytelling can take in public-sector work—journey maps, visuals, quotes, short videos, immersive experiences, or presentations—and apply them to a story grounded in their own project.

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User Testing Sprint: Designing Services That Actually Work

This sprint builds practical skills in planning, conducting, and learning from user testing. Participants learn how to design tests that answer real decision questions, synthesize results, and make confident improvements—especially in public-sector contexts where constraints and tradeoffs are real.

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User Research Sprint: Understanding the User Journey

This sprint builds skill in qualitative user research and helps teams learn directly from customers (external or internal). Participants learn how to plan and conduct interviews, then practice turning raw notes into synthesized themes and insights that can guide redesign.

The most valuable part was being able to do this in real life and not just a ‘table top’ activity”

— sprint participant, ohio department of jobs and family services

skill sprints let you practice with new tools your team can apply right away

relevant

created for public servants

targetted

customized for your needs

practical

designed to immediately apply skills to CX challenges

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case study: ohio state department of jobs and family services

When families apply for public benefits, they're often in a moment of crisis — what they need most is a fast, clear path to help. Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services recognized that the landing page for their self-service portal was an opportunity to make that first step easier, and brought together 30 leaders from across the organization to take it on.
Civilla facilitated a three-day Skill Sprint in Columbus, bringing together ODJFS leaders alongside the IT vendor team responsible for updating the portal. Participants walked through the portal together on day one and interviewed Ohio residents who had recently applied for benefits, hearing firsthand about the moments of confusion and frustration they encountered. On day two, participantsthey synthesized what they'd heard, sketched prototype ideas for a redesigned landing page, and got direct feedback from residents. The sprint closed with a set of concrete recommendations for the IT vendor — ones they had helped shape themselves, making implementation far more likely.
Teams that had never worked side by side left with shared language, new skills, and a set of ideas recommendations based directly in feedback from residents. They also experienced the value of talking with customers directly - how interviews can quickly inform what changes are most important to make to improve customer experience - and have taken that ethos back to their day-to-day work. Several teams have since integrated user interviews into other projects to improve CX. .

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frequently asked questions

how many people can be part of a sprint?+
Sprints are designed for groups of up to 30 participants. Sprints are most successful when participants:
- Have support from leadership to explore and invest in HCD
- Are working on a real service, workflow, or artifact that can benefit from human-centered methods
- Are ready to engage in hands-on, applied learning during the workshop
how much time will this require?+
Sprints run 1–3 days, depending on your team's needs and the scope of your challenge. Civilla will work with you in advance to scope the right length and focus for your team.
who should participate?+
Sprints are typically designed for teams within a single institution. If you're in a decision-making position, we can work with you to determine who from your team should join. If you're not, we can help you make the case for why a sprint is a good option and who should be part of it.
how do I know if now is the right time?+
The best time to run a sprint is when your team has a real customer experience challenge you're actively working on — and leadership support to dedicate time to the workshop. If you're not sure whether the timing is right, we're happy to talk it through with you.
will we get feedback on our work?+
Yes — you'll get real-time feedback throughout the sprint from Civilla facilitators, and your team will leave with insights, concepts, or prototypes that have already been tested or reviewed. Depending on the sprint format, you may also have the option to add coaching or office hours after the workshop to support continued progress.
is there a fee?+
Yes, sprints are a paid service. Please reach out for more information on rates.

You know your team best. Let’s talk about skills you want to develop.

We'll work with you to design a skill sprint tailored to your team's CX priorities so you can build the right skills in just one to three days.

Reach out

more ways to learn through practica

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accelerators

Six months of deep human-centered design practice that builds your team’s capacity for improving customer experience. Through interactive workshops and targeted coaching with experienced Civilla instructors, your team will make meaningful progress on a project by applying new concepts in real time.

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online courses