Running Effective Design Sprints

The Design Sprint

Image Courtesy: Google Ventures

Design sprints are a framework for teams of any size to solve and test design problems in 2-5 days. The idea of sprints originates with the Agile framework. The idea of design thinking was developed at IDEO and the d.school at Stanford. These frameworks were adapted to the idea of design sprints thanks to the Google UX teams, Google Ventures and Google [x] and teams across the industry.

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The 5/6 Steps

Image Courtesy: Google/ Co.Design

Understand and define the problem

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The 6 Steps

Image Courtesy: Google

Case StudyPracto Synapse A Social Network for Doctors

Before the Sprint The Homework

Understand your users Get facts not opinionsApply first-principles thinkingFind user motivation and key insight(s)Take the entire team through the learnings

This helps with the first two steps Understand and Define The entire team is taken through the learningsKey insight(s) is/ are sharedProblem statement is defined Why? What? How?6

Understand and DefineWhy? What? How? Elucidate why we (the team) are interested in solving this problemUnderstand why users will care for this solutionDefine the problem as clearly as possibleDefine the outcomes of the overall project What are we building?Define the outcomes of this sprint exercise

Help doctors create, maintain and grow a network Help doctors benefit from this network

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Diverge and DecideEveryone in the team works on their ownEveryone writes down as many ideas as possibleOrder all these ideas into orthogonal blocks (especially for larger products)Everyone votes independently which blocks matter

BeforeAfter

Prototype and ValidateExpand on each orhtogonal block translate it into screens and a flowEveryone sketches out their ideas Use intuitive prototyping tools on top of paper and pen prototypes (Invision, Marvel, etc)Follow by user testing, stakeholder feedback (CEO, etc) and technical feasibility (already done since engineers were involved throughout). User testing should cover the following:What do users like and dislike in the prototype? What would they like to improve? Does the solution meet their needs overall?

What do users like and dislike in the prototype? What would they like to improve? Does the solution meet their needs overall?

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Prototype and Validate

Learnings

Before You Start - Do the Homework!Define business goalsConduct user interviews/ surveysUnderstand the competitive landscapeAnswer clearly Why are we building this new product/ feature?Answer clearly Why would users care?Apply first-principles thinking and get everyone in the team on the same pageRemember Why before What and How

What is the deep insight? 12

Points to Remember Before StartingDesign sprints are not just for designers and product managers:Everyone (developers, QA, PMs, designers, marketing, business, sales) in your team/ pod should be involved especially developers!Share the homework with the entire teamDistraction-free space with lots of whiteboards, stationary Clear problem statementClear outcomes at the end of this process

Having engineers helps in multiple ways figuring out what is actually feasible, faster execution, cleaner UI13

During the Design SprintThere is no such thing as a stupid ideaAll ideas need to be sketched out. Verbal exposition should be kept to a minimum. Everyone can use simple shapes (rectangles, circles, etc) to express ideas. Zen Voting whenever possible Orthogonal product pieces will make life easier for design and engineering in the futurePrototype every flow and iterate in this phase saves unnecessary iterations during actual development

After the Design SprintGreat team energy everyone knows what needs to be builtFaster execution as engineers and designers work faster together and have complete ownership of the productFewer iterationsSame process is applied for building any new feature

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