Design Sprint — A Simple Explanation
Many people don’t know what a design sprint is. Outside of the design world, it just flies over most people’s heads.
Here’s a quick write-up on how to explain the design sprint process in simple terms.
- It’s a process that brings together a lot of people at work to solve a problem, work out an idea, or explore something risky that might have a huge payoff.
- It takes something that normally requires a lot of time to make, and gets it done faster. If it normally takes three months, it might only need a week with a design sprint.
- It’s highly customizable. You can change the amount of time you spend, the activities you do, the people you get involved, or the work you’ll get from the process. You can explore branding, strategy, research, product development, growth, process and/or new tech ideas with a design sprint.
- Most importantly, it gets everyone on the same page about what they’re doing and why.
Many companies and their staff are plagued with a lack of alignment, shared understanding of project objectives and the inability for anyone in authority to make a decision. It’s a huge waste of energy, time and money.
A design sprint brings everyone together for a shared directive, fostering a sense of camaraderie and purpose with team members. If properly structured and planned, this process can have an amazing effect of instilling empathy with those from other disciplines.
If you want to learn more about design sprints:
- I recommend reading Richard Banfield and C. Todd Lombardo’s book on design sprints as a good, holistic view of how the process can be modified for any given situation.
- Jake Knapp’s Sprint Book is perfect for product development, applying a very efficient, elegant approach to the process.
- AJ&Smart offer plenty of updated material on the process, including some clever and innovative activity hacks to save time and speed things along.
How would you explain the design sprint process to someone who’s never heard about it before?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and let’s start a conversation.
