Design Sprint Process
A Design Sprint is a short, focused period of work. Sprints allow you to explore ideas, then prototype and test them, so you can learn the best way forward for your company. Testing and validating ideas in this way with real users often saves months or even years of work.
Top left to right: Feature ideas, feature priorities, learning-cycle user journey. Bottom left to right: User journeys, screen-flows.
Sprint setup
The key rule of a design sprint is simple: phones and laptops off in the room at all times – if you need to make a call or send an email that’s no problem – just leave the room to do it. This maintains a high level of collaborative focus at all times and makes sure everyone is fully engaged. Although the sprint format is tightly packed, I make sure teams avoid burnout by scheduling 7-hour days, and regular rest breaks throughout the day.
1
UNPACK
What is the business case?
What are we trying to achieve?
What existing research do we have?
2
SKETCH
Diverge! – Ideation in all directions
The team create a wide range of possible solutions
3
DECIDE
What is the best solution out of our range of possibilities?
Do we need to choose a few of them for a Battle Royale on test day?
4
PROTOTYPE
Refine storyboards into screenflows
Create a vision of the product as quickly as possible
Good enough to suspend disbelief
5
TEST
Validate ideas with real users
Learn what doesn’t work – and where we’re winning
Showcase to senior stakeholders
Image credit: Zenexmachina
Learn fast, learn often.Jeff Gothelf
Short but focused
I’m a massive fan of the Design Sprint process – it’s a really effective way to create and test ideas in a short time. It’s also a win-win programme – if you find that users love your vision, you win – go ahead and pursue that dream! But even if you find your ideas don’t fly – celebrate! You’ve just saved yourself thousands of pounds worth of development, and months or even years of heartache. For example, during a Sprint I ran with startup Englishup, we made a ton of progress and created a whole new vision of what success could look like – one that might have been impossible without this burst of targeted creativity.
