This article is focussed on explaining design sprints and how they speed up testing digital products and business ideas.
Or are you finding that difficulty in making decisions internally is stalling projects, innovation and your team’s enthusiasm? Large corporate structures can be toxic for a slim and lean entrepreneurial approach to delivery and innovation. If that’s your problem you aren’t alone. You’ve probably been reading about disruption and how to design and test ideas quickly, which means you have probably heard of design sprints.
Large corporate structures can be toxic for a slim and lean entrepreneurial approach to delivery and innovation.
Design sprints were invented at Google to find a better way to evaluate, prototype, test and launch ideas and products quicker. After making some waves at Google itself, Google ventures started to use design sprints to help entrepreneurs and start-ups to test and launch their business ideas quicker.
After making some waves at Google itself, Google ventures started to use design sprints to help entrepreneurs and start-ups to test and launch their business ideas quicker.
Have you checked your weekly diary lately? You’ll probably find that only 5-20% of your time is allocated to delivering actual work. If your diary is anything like mine a lot of your time in the office is taken up with internal and external meetings and workshops. Trying to get the right people in a room usually requires a degree in mindmapping of outlook calendars and getting the answers quickly can be frustrating and slows down progress.
Design sprints require for the right people to problem solve together for two days straight. That means, no distractions, 100% focus in a framework that delivers genuine results.
Trying to get the right people in a room usually requires a degree in mindmapping of outlook calendars and getting the answers quickly can be incredibly frustrating, and slows down progress.
No they’re not. In fact in many ways design sprints are the anti-dote to a brainstorm. Although brainstorms can be great at generating a lot of ideas quickly they often fail due to more senior or simply louder voices getting all the attention. And more often than not having generated a lot of ideas does not mean that they see the light of day. A lot of them die as post its on a wall or in someone’s drawer.
Design sprints allow each participant to brainstorm ideas on his or her own. Each personal brain storm is structured and followed by a tight and decisive voting system which means that the best ideas get selected and are brought to life quickly.
Each personal brain storm is structured and followed by a tight and decisive voting system which means that the best ideas get selected and are brought to life quickly.
What is refreshing (and at times requires adjusting by first time participants) that it cuts out a lot of the internal debating and questioning of ideas. Rather it allows for people to be creative, present and evaluate ideas in a very disciplined and surprisingly refreshing way.
Again, surprisingly no. Like in real life great ideas can be easily thrown out if the actual decision maker decides the project isn’t heading in the right direction. To prevent this from happening, design sprints require the decision maker to be present. He or she has ultimate decision power. So, the decision maker gets to assess what the majority votes for but can ultimately change decisions. Just like in real life.
… the decision maker gets to assess what the majority votes for but can ultimately change decisions. Just like in real life.
It is strongly recommended for the decision maker to attend at least the first two days of the design sprint. If it’s absolutely impossible for him or her to attend they should delegate the decision power to someone else in the room they implicitly trust. It’s recommended that the decision maker delegates that power in writing so that everyone buys into the substitute.
First you need an external or facilitator. That’s someone who is trained to run and deliver a design sprint. Design sprints require good preparation and organisation. The facilitator will discuss the outcome with the decision maker and they will draw up a number of people. Please note that having more than 10 people in the room is often counterproductive. If you would like to have more people involved consider inviting them as subject matter experts that can contribute but don’t participate.
Design sprints are all about evaluating ideas quickly, building a fast prototype and testing them on actual users and making quick changes to be able to launch the product quickly. They can be used to test products, business ideas and even internal changes.
Design sprints are usually run over 4-5 days with 7-10 people which need to be carefully selected. The first two days are the most important ones and require that all key participants are there and have a clear diary. Days 3-5 only require a few selected people who will be building the product or prototype (in most cases the facilitator and 2 designers).
At the end of the design sprint you should have a designed prototype that has been tested on 3-5 users and a much better idea on whether it’s worth building or launching your new business idea.
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