Loading...Design sprints are the business world equivalent of a rugby scrum with one crucial difference: everyone in a design sprint is working towards the same goal.
Aside from that, you’ll find in a design sprint a similarly-sized small group, sustained intensity, and sweat. Yes, brains sweat.
Design sprints are four-day workshops to help move forward a project, a team, or a company. They’re great at getting you unstuck, or even started.
But who and what are they for?
Let’s start with two common scenarios.
Scenario 1: Brains are bursting with information and ideas
Have you ever had too much information? Too many divergent opinions or ideas? Or not enough?
I’m sure you have. So you know that when you’re in this situation, it becomes difficult to see what your next step should be.
Or imagine you receive a lot of customer feedback on your SAAS so much that you don’t know what to do about the comments and requests you receive.
Or say you’re trying to improve your production, but its evolution is stuck in the mud of indecision.
Too much or too little information, ideas, or opinions is one scenario where a design sprint can get you unstuck and moving forward.
Scenario 2: The will to innovate is strong, but the process is too slow
Now imagine your team ready to innovate, but the process is so slow everyone is starting to lose faith and motivation.
Or that your team has plenty of innovative ideas, but you don’t know where to start.
Design sprints are a perfect tool to get innovation projects moving or to help a team get past hurdles in the innovation process.
Who is it for?
“Design sprints exist to solve big problems, not small ones,” says Jeff Mignon, Chief Growth Officer at Pentalog.
He adds, “the scope of the problem to solve needs to justify the investment.”
A problem big enough to justify the expense is often easy to find in medium to large companies.
And Design sprints have relevance outside the software development world. The methodology can work in many fields: HR, management, etc.
How significant is the risk of gathering eight persons in a room for four days? It’s not much of a risk if you’re stuck, and you’re losing time, money, and the motivation of your team.
And a design sprint is a fantastic way to engage your team.
Is it for you?
Now, let’s talk about you: what’s holding down that could be solved with a design sprint?
