Participatory design checklist: before, during, and after the workshop
Use this checklist to track your progress through each phase of a participatory design workshop. Print it, copy it into your project management tool, or use it as a quality gate before moving to the next phase.
Before the workshop
- Design challenge framed as an open question
- Participants recruited: 6-12, diverse lived experience, 50%+ end users
- Over-recruited by 25-30% for no-shows
- Workshop activities designed: warm-up → context sharing → generative → sharing → prioritization → close
- Materials prepared: sticky notes, markers, paper, printed images, templates (or digital equivalents)
- Space booked and arranged for collaboration (no lecture-style seating)
- Roles assigned: lead facilitator + note-taker/documentarian + activity assistants
- Observer protocol established: stakeholders watch but do not steer
- Consent forms prepared (photography, recording, use of outputs)
- Incentives confirmed and ready to distribute
- Pilot run completed with a colleague to test timing and activity clarity
During the workshop
- Purpose and ground rules explained at opening
- Consent obtained for recording and photography
- Warm-up completed — participants are making, not just talking
- Power dynamics actively managed: written-before-verbal, small groups before large group
- Every participant contributed to at least one generative activity
- All physical artifacts photographed in high resolution
- Sharing round completed — each group or participant presented
- Prioritization exercise completed and results captured
- Reflection question asked: “What surprised you? What did we miss?”
- Follow-up promised: what happens next, how participants will be updated
After the workshop
- Debrief notes written within 24 hours: themes, surprises, group dynamics
- All photos, recordings, and notes organized in one location
- Workshop outputs clustered by theme
- Design requirements drafted from participant creations
- Areas of disagreement documented as design tensions to resolve
- Follow-up communication sent to participants within 2 weeks
- Findings shared with broader team via visual summary
- Next steps defined: additional workshops, prototyping, or testing