How to solve a Problem fast and efficient using a Design Sprint...

Have you ever wondered if you can solve big complex problems and test new ideas in just a few days? Too good to be true? Let me help you to understand. Designer Jake Knapp created the five-day process at Google ventures in order to help Google initiatives and investments prototype, and validate ideas as rapidly and effectively as possible. Entrepreneurs constantly face tough decisions and their outcome won’t be realized until months of effort have passed, the five days sprint is designed to iterate through these decisions and test different alternatives in a very compressed timeframe before even a Minimum Viable Product the Sprint methodology shortcuts months of debate and development case study an example from the book is when Blue bottle coffee wanted to build its online store a project that would take a long time to require years of refinement but the initial direction would be crucial and that’s where the five days sprint came in. First, the Blue Bottle coffee team mapped out the online purchase process of a customer and refined it with the feedback from experts then they came up with three competing designs prototype all of them using keynote, and presented them to the potential customers based on the feedback the team actually eliminated the most favored design.

The Digital Wellbeing Sprint which is organized by 3UAS (Haaga-Helia, Laurea, and Metropolia) is a seven days sprint that starts with the team building at the beginning of the sprint and ends with the pitching session. Digital Wellbeing Sprint is designed to solve the problems that have high stakes and to test out the business that you have and it only includes the method that is absolutely essential for your business.

Each day in the sprint revolves around a specific topic mapping a target, sketching competing solutions, deciding the best, prototyping the realistic, and testing with the target customers. The well-defined time constraint makes it easier to focus on the most important aspects and get things done.

Design Sprint process

Here is how the Sprint works:

Target: The team maps out in great detail the customer journey then invites experts to provide their input and finally decides on what well-defined objective, one thing that is critical and can be tested.
Sketch: The team sketches out the possible solutions without criticizing or making any decisions all ideas are sketched out and considered like a brainstorming session.
Decide: Once all the possible solutions are made the team decides each member goes around and votes with a sticker on the ideas white-bordered around the room the winning idea gets carefully storyboarded in even greater detail.
Prototype: Now the storyboard gets converted into a prototype in the most efficient way possible you don’t need a code or manufacture anything figure out the absolute minimum that will give your customers an accurate representation of the idea so they could provide feedback.
Test: Finally the idea in any competing versions is put to the test a good interviewer guide customers through the idea without imposing any biases all while the team watches the reaction and takes notes at the end of the day they compare notes and boil them down to lessons of the Sprint.

This design sprint is pretty much applied to any type of the project and its success is predicated on getting the right team in place and identifying the right challenge so it’s not too broad and setting aside the time and effort to focus on the problem obviously you can’t run every decision through a sprint design cycle but it can accelerate the key decisions and set your project on the right path.

To wrap up, I would like to say that I am very grateful that I got a chance to facilitate Digital Wellbeing Sprint. It Was really a joy and amazing to team up and work with the whole tutor crew: Ashrika, Viljami, Arifa, Liisa, Laura, and the most supportive and focused Tiina. Thank you to all our teachers Merja Lahdenperä, Päivi Mantere & Jarmo Sarkkinen, and a special thank you to the hardworking and encouraging Elena Howlader. It was really a wonderful experience with you all and especially with all the women as this digital well-being sprint won’t be possible without women’s (Super) power. Gratitude.

Sincerely,

Yash Agarwal

I’m a Team Lead, chef, dream achiever, motivational speaker, and soon-to-be leadership coach. My Journey began in 2015 and since then I have enjoyed many different positions throughout my career in product strategy, planning, development, testing, and technical sales. I enjoy meeting new people and hearing new perspectives. Reach out if you want to talk to me about emerging tech, and creating software products.