Design Sprint: What is it and Why is it Important
Here you are with an amazing business idea. You are confident that this idea will transform into a million-dollar business. Since you are so sure, why don’t you test it once?
This is where the Design Sprint process comes in. It is a design thinking process that will test your great idea in just five days.
The design sprint process was popularized by Jake Knapp in his book “Sprint.” Since its publication, design sprint methods came into the limelight.
So what actually is the Design Sprint process and why is it so important to run them?
I will address these questions in this post.
Let’s start!
What is a Design Sprint Process?
Google Ventures is credited with the introduction of Design Sprint methods. The purpose behind it was to help entrepreneurs in addressing the challenges faced when starting a business. It can be defined as a five-day process to solve essential business problems. The design sprint process includes:
- Mapping and choosing your target
- Getting inspiration from sketch ideas
- Reaching a decision on the best solution
- Making a prototype
- Testing your idea with the customers
The design sprint methods are so effective that the endless debate cycle and months of preparation can be brought down to merely a week. Wouldn’t it be better to get clear data by developing a prototype rather than launching your product first and then evaluating it?
For ease, this five-day process runs from Monday to Friday. The complete process is discussed below.
Setting the Stage for Design Sprint Process
Before you dive into the process, you have to make sure that you have the right team for the right set of challenges. Once this is accomplished, this is how your week is going to look like;
Monday
You begin the sprint week from here. On Monday you should set achievable goals for the sprint. Once those goals are set, you should connect with the experts organization-wide to list out the number of problems. Careful attention should be given in assessing the customer journey maps to understand the problems faced by the users.
Tuesday
This is the creative part of the design sprint methods. Your team should come up with solutions by brainstorming ideas. All the given ideas can be thoroughly considered to see which can be improved or discarded.
Also, an effort is made to recommend new solutions.
Wednesday
Once you have come up with a number of solutions, it is time to carefully evaluate those solutions. You should critique the solutions to reach a reasonable conclusion.
Furthermore, construct a storyboard with these ideas.
Thursday
You now have a storyboard of solutions. From this storyboard build a working prototype. On Thursday, you will make sure that your prototype is ready for its test the next day. Your aim should be to make the prototype as realistic as you could.
Friday
You have finally reached Friday, which is the day of user-testing. Today, you will put the prototype in front of your customers. In the user-testing phase, you will ask the most effective questions. You will take the feedback to prepare for the next step.
You Will Get Any One of the Outcomes
- You will learn valuable information about the prototype
- You’ll learn what worked and what didn’t
- Your prototype will meet the user expectations
Design Sprint Methods—Shrink Months into Days
In a nutshell, insight, collaboration and ownership are ingredients of finding the best solutions for any business. This will not only save you time but will also prevent a costly failure. Companies around the world are adopting design sprint methods. I suggest you should too!
If you want to run a design sprint for your idea too, reach out to the team of experts at Mockup Machine.
