Design Sprints
Over the years, I’ve found that following a few key steps helps lead to a successful sprint.
Step 1Getting organized
A good sprint is an organized sprint. There are so many resources to ensure daily activities are effective, but my go-to resource is Google Ventures Design Sprint Kit. I’ve used it to inform almost every sprint I’ve facilitated and I’ve never been disappointed. It takes into account the emotion behind how ideas come into the world and pairs that with data and testing.
Though I always use this kit as a building block, I also like to customize activities to serve the needs of the sprint. Flexibility is paramount!
Step 2Opening up
The beautiful thing about a sprint is that it’s an opportunity to bring different people together and focus on one problem. For this reason, it works best if it’s not only design-minded people in the room but also people with different skills. I believe it’s important to get product managers, users, designers, data scientists, engineers, and marketers involved. In my experience, this helps keep things functional and focused on solving real problems.
My favorite way to include users is through participatory design, which emphasizes bringing the people we’re building for directly into the design process. This approach creates solutions with communities rather than for them, and it’s the best way to build products that consider stress cases and solve real-world problems.
Step 3Thinking big
It can be easy to get caught up in the technical constraints of what’s possible today or tomorrow. However, when we’re in a design sprint, it’s important to think outside the box and focus on a truly effective solution, without constraints. A great way to talk about constraints is using the “yes, and…” response. This ensures that concerns are heard (and documented), while also keeping the dialog open and free.
In order to make this effective, I always align the sprint outputs with PM before we start, and set clear expectations for folks during sprint activities. Even if the solution can’t be implemented all at once, it helps create a solid roadmap.