Etch Sprints in 2020
Ross Chapman’s highlights for the year ahead
As the start of the new decade approaches, all of us at Etch are eager for what lies ahead, including Etch Sprints. After over a year of running Sprints and training partners to run their own, we are making some changes to Etch Sprints to further challenge the status quo and offer businesses even more value. Here’s a summary of what’s coming up…
1. Prototyping a team
After nearly a year of going it alone (or lone-wolfing it 🐺 as it’s become known), we’ve now created an Etch Sprints team. Going against the norm of hiring, we’re instead drafting in specialists from the wider agency to help drive the momentum needed and build upon our first year of business.
What this means is that I’ll now be leading a team of talented people and they’ll be running more Sprints into 2020 and beyond. They’ll also be helping me execute the business plan.
2. More Sprints than ever before
The Sprint book has been instrumental in helping us deliver outcomes so far. We’ve run over 50 design sprints to date, and trained many others in the process. There’s often a temptation to stay true to what you know and keep what works unchanged.
I’m also only too aware that there are now many places you can buy a design sprint from. The case studies that come up after Sprints often tell me who we were being considered with in that initial engagement. We don’t really want to play that game in a situation where people are comparing quotes. We want to be more value-focussed and that involves understanding the needs of our partners, balanced with our ambitions as a business.
On balance, 90% of the Sprints we’ve run this past year have been with a focus on product design and moving into 2020, you’ll be seeing us talk more about applying Sprints in Strategy, Product, Operations, even HR — all in the effort to help accelerate wider change within more organisations — not just in products.
3. Speaking and sharing
It’s time to hit the speaker circuit once more. I’ll be seeking-out opportunities outside of our industry of agency land to share what I’ve learnt running Sprints with teams.
If you’re in the digital transformation, change management, business strategy or operations space, it would be great to hear what events you typically go to.
4. Programmes, not projects
One Sprint isn’t always enough. Larger organisations require more work to shift mindsets and encourage new ways of working. On average, less than 30% of transformations succeed, according to McKinsey, so we are starting to roll out programmes of work whereby teams can learn, practice and deliver outcomes in partnership with our experienced design leaders.
The Accelerated Sprint Programme is our first programme — a six-month engagement of change to completely re-engineer how people approach and solve business problems by unlocking the value of teamwork and executing upon design frameworks. Expect more from us in this space in 2020.
5. More content than ever before
A new Web Class, monthly webinars, and more podcasts. With the super-power of a team around me, they’ll start sharing their stories and expertise.
I’ll be on full Sprint ambassador duty. Expect interviews with leading experts, those that have succeeded and failed and more valuable insights to help you prepare to drive change within your business, whether you’re a Head of Dept. or responsible for changing the organisation to one that goes further, faster.
It’s looking to be a great year. Thank you for following it so far.
