What's the Design Sprint?
Would you believe, if someone told you that it is possible to find a solution to your company’s biggest issues throughout prototyping and user testing in only 4 days? It might sound too good to be true, but the design sprint proves otherwise.
Design sprint– 4-day process for answering critical business questions, in which a solution is developed from the ideas, prototype is built and tested with end-users.
Design sprint was developed at Google Ventures by Jake Knapp. The sprint consists of well-organized activities complied by Jake Knapp during thousands of meetings with Google Ventures teams. All to shorten the process of developing and validating new products or services from several months to 4 days.
Design sprint lasts for 4 days
Day 1
During the first half of the day, we define the challenge and investigate the background of it, because background knowledge is crucial during generating ideas. Afterwards, ideation takes place, during what participants come up with as many different solutions as possible. 1st day ends with each participant choosing and detail sketching his or her chosen solution.
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The whole team works together on the 1st day.
Day 2
2nd day starts with the team selecting the best ideas from the solutions completed in the evening of the previous day. Combining them will lead to the first version of the solution, which will be finalized during the day. Using different working methods, the final solution will be completed to the last detail by the evening of the 2nd day.
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The whole team works together on the 2nd day.
Day 3
On the 3rd day, based on the input of the previous days a prototype is created, which is the basis for user tests.
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If there is no designer in the sprinting team, Studio Leek will help to create a prototype.
Day 4
Sprint culminates in user testing. The final solution is tested with at least five end-users, which allows getting honest feedback on the created solution. The team can monitor the tests in real-time. Simultaneously with the tests, both positive and negative feedback is collected, and after the tests, a thorough analysis of the results is performed.
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The activities of the 4th day will be undertaken by Studio Leek, but the sprint team will be able to follow the interviews and get involved if they wish.
Design sprint needs a diverse team
Co-creation is crucial in the design sprint! The 5-8 member sprint team is assembled within the company and should be with as diverse a background as possible (developer, project manager, marketing, sales, etc.). People from different fields bring a variety of perspectives to the debate, which is what allows the most innovative ideas to be born.
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Sprint is run by a certified team facilitator of the Studio Leek team, who guides the team in various tasks and helps to successfully reach the final solution.
Why design sprint?
Efficiency– that’s it!
The design sprint follows the build-measure-learn cycle familiar from the lean methodology, which makes product development faster and more efficient. In just four days, a solution, a working prototype, and end-user feedback are created.
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Everyone’s voice matters! The principal of the sprint is “together alone”. Although tasks are common, team members act individually. This way everyone can write down their ideas and make them heard because there is no leader, who single-handedly runs the sprint.
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Justify your decisions with data
The design sprint culminates in testing the developed solution. The testers are end-users of the developed product/service, who give honest feedback to the prototype. This way it is possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the solution and further decisions can be based on real data instead of the current assumptions.
Who is Studio Leek*?
We are an innovation studio located in Tallinn. Our goal is to offer an innovative process for product and service development, where the final solution is developed in four days instead of months. We use the Design Sprint 2.0 methodology created by Google Ventures and facilitated by AJ & Smart.
*We are certified by AJ & Smart and Jake Knapp, the leading Design Sprint agency in the world and the author of the original Sprint concept.
-Kickstarting innovation