Tuesday — Sketch
☀️ Morning guys 🦄
It sounds like yesterday went well. Getting stuck into the brief. Getting back into the Sprint vibe. Hanging out in that wonderful office space with the non-hot hot desks 😣
Today is all about grabbing inspiration from elsewhere, and coming up with ideas as individuals. I like Sprint Tuesdays. In fact, it might be my fave Sprint day. You get to a little glimpse into people’s lives by hearing the products, services, and media that they use and love.
Checklist below. But first…
🤔 Jimbo’s thought for the day 🐳
It must be hard for you guys to keep coming back and doing these Sprints and Friday sessions over and over again. You’ve been on a long old journey with the Academy. Loads of ups and downs. Lots of frustration. Tons of baggage that you all must be carrying around with you.
I had exactly the same with Hyper Island. The awesome Swedish creative digital school where Jon and I both worked. It was so fun and I learned so much in the 2.5 years I was there. But it was also an incredibly frustrating place with difficult human relationships and organisational troubles.
But this month we’ve both decided to say yes to some freelance work with them. We’re going back to the place that made us both sick.
Why?
Because they do awesome stuff. And we grow when we’re there. And there are great people who we respect and can learn from. I guess it must be similar with the Academy? It’s hard and confusing at times. But you’ve all grown and learned and changed so much in the last year. Sometimes it’s hard to see that.
What’s the lesson here? I guess that time gives us perspective. Things that felt important were actually trivial. And things that felt trivial ended up being important. You’ve just got to do what you think is right in the moment and hope that your gut steers you in the right direction.
Anyway! Enough philosophising…
Tuesday Checklist
Again, taken and adapted from this awesome article by GV.
❏ Lightning Demos. Look at great solutions from a range of companies, including yours. Three minutes per demo. Capture good ideas with a quick drawing on the whiteboard.
❏ Divide or swarm. Decide who will sketch which part of the map. If you’re targeting a big chunk of the map in your sprint, divide it up and assign someone to each section.
❏ Lunch
❏ The Four-Step Sketch. Briefly explain the four steps. Everyone sketches. When you’re done, place the sketches in a pile and save them for tomorrow.
- Notes. Twenty minutes. Silently walk around the room and gather notes. (p. 110)
- Ideas. Twenty minutes. Privately jot down some rough ideas. Circle the most promising ones. (p. 111)
- Crazy 8s. Eight minutes. Fold a sheet of paper to create eight frames. Sketch a variation of one of your best ideas in each frame. Spend one minute per sketch. (p. 111)
- Solution sketch. Thirty to ninety minutes. Create a three-panel storyboard by sketching in three sticky notes on a sheet of paper. Make it self-explanatory. Keep it anonymous. Ugly is okay. Words matter. Give it a catchy title. (p. 114)
Key Ideas / Concepts for Today
- Remix and improve. Every great invention is built on existing ideas.
- Anyone can sketch. Most solution sketches are just rectangles and words.
- Concrete beats abstract. Use sketches to turn abstract ideas into concrete solutions that can be assessed by others.
- Work alone together. Group brainstorms don’t work. Instead, give each person time to develop solutions on his or her own.
Now, time for some stories…
~Any problems or questions, Slack us~
