Design Sprint
Highlights
Chapter 1 - What Is a Design Sprint?
A design sprint consists of five discrete phases:
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Prepare (Get ready)
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Understand (review background and user insights)
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Diverge (brainstorm what’s possible)
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Converge (rank solutions, pick one)
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Prototype (create a minimum viable concept)
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Test (observe what’s effective for users)
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Iterate…to another design sprint, or a Lean and Agile build process such as Scrum o
Chapter 1 - What Is a Design Sprint?
A design sprint is a flexible product design framework that serves to maximize the chances of making something people want. It is an intense effort conducted by a small team where the results will set the direction for a product or service.
Chapter 1 - What Is a Design Sprint?
A design sprint reduces the risk of downstream mistakes and generates vision-led goals the team can use to measure its success.
Chapter 1 - What Is a Design Sprint?
A design sprint has five phases: Understand, Diverge, Converge, Prototype, and Test. The names of these phases may vary from company to company, but the overall ethos remains the same: a timeboxed design cycle completed in a collaborative fashion with real user input.
Chapter 1 - What Is a Design Sprint?
The focus of a design sprint is to get the validation needed to maximize the chances of creating something people want.
Chapter 1 - What Is a Design Sprint?
Design sprints can be measured in different ways, from number of “good” ideas generated, team alignment, company direction, and even halting a project.
Chapter 2 - When (and When Not) to Do a Design Sprint?
A design sprint is a highly collaborative process designed to enable each participant’s voice to be heard. Structured individual work, planned group discussions, and a clear diverge and converge process will guide a team to get on the same page around the artifacts it produces together.
Chapter 2 - When (and When Not) to Do a Design Sprint?
There’s a well-studied phenomenon called the “co-creation effect,” which shows that when organizations and consumers create a product or service together, both parties will have a greater interest in the outcome.3,4
Chapter 2 - When (and When Not) to Do a Design Sprint?
We’ve learned that a design sprint needs to have some inputs and most often that is some form of data. We’ll get into detail in Chapters 4 and 5, but if you lack any user/customer research data, it will be difficult to get all of it in one or two days. There are two possible options: you can extend the sprint or alternatively, you can focus it on research only, forgoing testing and instead digging into the customer’s needs and problems. “
Chapter 2 - When (and When Not) to Do a Design Sprint?
A design sprint is less useful in the following cases: when a product is already well defined, if significant additional research is needed, if the allotted time is too short, or if a business opportunity isn’t clear.
Chapter 2 - When (and When Not) to Do a Design Sprint?
A design sprint cannot accomplish everything, so scope appropriately. It is not a substitute for complex product development, nor if there’s an unwillingness in your organization for a change in direction.
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
Here’s a sampling of guidelines we use. What could you add to this list?
• Everyone participates
• Have one conversation at a time
• Withhold judgment of others’ ideas
• Get up and draw
• Be comfortable
• Be easy on people, tough on ideas
• Be timely
• Be present
• The phone stack
• One computer at a time
• No jargon/TPS reports
• No HiPPOS
• No “Yes, but…”
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
No HiPPOs. The Highest Paid Person’s Opinion can often trample on other people’s ideas. Make this a rule so that a senior member doesn’t keep junior participants from defending their own points of view
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
No “Yes, but…” Any time the word “but” is said, it often invalidates what was said earlier, so “yes, but…” is really a disagreement. Disagreeing is OK, but preceding that disagreement with a “yes” can be subtly counterproductive. There will be times for debate and disagreement in design sprints. Or instead of disagreeing, build on the last idea by saying “Yes, and…” or “Yes, because…”
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
Be present. A design sprint is an intense exercise and many participants will get tired and distracted. Stay in the room, listen intently, and participate actively in the conversations.
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
Have one conversation at a time. Have you ever been in a meeting and seen lots of side conversations? We don’t want those in a design sprint because we believe that all comments are valuable and want everyone to hear them.
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
By providing guidelines and rules for the team, you can empower the team. Again, constraints increase creativity, and these guidelines can help. You reduce the opportunity for mental fatigue and ensure that each person’s contributions will be given attention and value.
One of the most important elements of a design sprint is that these are established on day 1 or even before the design sprint begins
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
In the downward direction, challenge each “How might we…” statement with the question “What’s stopping us from doing this?” Answer that question, then rewrite it to a “How might we…” question, and place it below that Post-it.
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
Reframe the Problem with Challenge Maps
Now that we’ve defined the problem, how might we reframe the challenge given what we collectively know? Taking all the information in, you may realize that your initial hypothesis might be the wrong one.
Chapter 5 - Phase 1: Understand
Distribute large 3 × 5 Post-its and ask participants to individually write down potential problems the target user might have (one problem per Post-it). The following questions can serve as prompts:
a. What is the job-to-be-done?4
b. What is the problem that this product or service will solve?
c. What is the motivation behind what the user wants or needs?