5min books review #7
Jake Knapp with John Zeratsky & Braden Kowitz: Sprint. How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
Value for money
9/10
Ebook or Bookshelf?
This deserves a place on your bookshelf.
Year, Price, Pages, Cover design
2016 by Simon & Schuster Paperbacks; EUR 12,99; 231 pages (with Checklist, FAQ, Thank-you Notes, Image credits, Index 274 pages); Paperback
5 sentences about the book
I’ve hoped that I would learn how to run a design sprint. Instead, I got not only a step by step manual but also a facilitator’s handbook and toolkit. And on top of that — real-life examples of design sprints, run by companies like Slack (business communication platform), Blue Bottle Coffee (coffee roaster), Savioke (autonomous delivery robots) and Flatiron Health (healthcare technology company). Perfectly structured book, with extra care for those of us who want to facilitate a sprint. It is truly hard to find a book that is worth every penny like this one.
What did I learn?
Basic Sprint principia:
- Sprint only around the most important problem; focus on the big problem
- The decider must be involved in the sprint: sprint is run by the team, but the most important decisions must be made by one single person (“Well, democracy is a fine system for governing nations, but it has no place in your sprint”, 139)
- The map is customer-centric; it is a story, with the beginning, the middle and the end, and it must be a simple (words, arrows, boxes)
- Turn problems into How Might We (HMW) opportunities: when you hear something interesting during the stage “Ask the expert”, convert it into a question (quietly)
- Work alone together. Group brainstorms don’t work. Give each person time to develop solutions on his or her own instead.
- Your Tuesday’s solution sketch must be self-explanatory, anonymous with a catchy title and writing
- When creating a prototype change your mindset from perfect to just enough
- The ideal number of customers for Friday’s test is five. 85% of the problems are observed after just five people
- On Friday’s test, we are not seeking the user’s feedback but the user’s honest reactions
- Don’t ask multiple-choice or “yes/no’’ questions (“Would you…?” “Do you….?” “Is it…?”)
- Ask “Five Ws and One Hs” questions. (“Who…?” “What…?” “Where…?” “When…?” “Why…?” “How…?”)
Lifehacks:
- Use classic yellow sticky note, because the multicolored notes cause unnecessary cognitive load
- Avoid super-thin pens that encourage microscopic writing: use whiteboard markers — using thick markers on a small surface forces everyone to write succinct, easy-to-read headlines (236)
- Use a timer. Tiny deadlines give everyone an added sense of focus and urgency (47)
- Tools like “how might we notes” (75), “work alone together” (107), “crazy 8s” (111), “speed critique” (135), “notes-and-vote” (146), “the five-act interview” (202)
What was missing?
Nothing. Really. Maybe one mistake in Checklist. Page 239, “Explain How Might We” notes should be before “Ask the Experts”.
Favourite quotes
“On Monday, you’ll map out the problem and pick an important place to focus. On Tuesday, you’ll sketch competing solutions on paper. On Wednesday, you’ll make difficult decisions and turn your ideas into a testable hypothesis. On Thursday, you’ll hammer out a realistic prototype. And on Friday, you’ll test it with real live humans.” 16
“When we talk to startups about sprints, we encourage them to go after their most important problem. Running a sprint requires a lot of energy and focus. Don’t go for the small win, or the nice-to-have project, because people won't bring their best effort. They probably won’t even clear their schedules in the first place.” 27
“And if your Decider doesn’t believe the sprint to be worthwhile? If she won't even stop by for a cameo? Hold up! That's a giant red flag! You might have the wrong project. Take your time, talk with the Decider, and figure out which big challenge would be better.” 32
“Once the illusion is broken, customers switch onto feedback mode. They’ll try to be helpful and think up suggestions. In Friday’s test customers’ reactions are solid gold, but their feedback is worth pennies on the dollar.
This distinction between feedback and reaction is crucial. You want to create a prototype that evokes honest reactions from your customers.” 169–170
