How to get started on a successful Design Sprint?

2017
Written By george sheldrake

Design sprint series: Part 3

What are the conditions Design Sprint success?

  • The right problem for the process
    Its a tool for proposition or new features in existing products and services (see post XX) is that’s not what you are doing perhaps there is a different tool for your problem.

  • Design Sprints are only as good as the planning around them
    Basically, if the objective is bad, planning is disorganised, team is disengaged or testing poor it can render the whole thing pointless, or worse misleading. It’s a fast process so it’s harder to fix things on the fly this means changing objectives, requirements or recruits can be very damaging to quality. So set up, cadence and organisation prior to sprint is important to its success.

  • Clear objectives and achievable scope
    Equally, clear scope and objectives can make or break the process. The team can’t deliver everything and the kitchen sink in one week. This doesn’t mean you can’t tackle the bigger picture, just that you have to be clear about what that picture is and provide a good brief based from a hypothesis and insight.

  • Realistic expectations and understanding of limitations
    Sprint is not a ‘cheap’ replacement for normal design and delivery processes. When using it as a tool it is important to be clear about its early-stage role and limitations as a low-fidelity tool. It is especially important to make sure it is understood by senior leadership that it is not a cheaper alternative to best practices. For example explaining its fast pace, thinner slice, lower fidelity as opposed to the rigor and detail of agile product delivery.

  • Capability to adapt to meet needs
    It’s not about sticking religiously to the approach outlined in any book, but tailoring it to your own organisation or design challenge. Sometimes it might be best to do a stint of research up front or extend the design or testing time. To do this you will need the skills and experince to design an approach the serves you well. Ensuring you design your process to match what’s right for you, protect the team and move across the stages of the process.

“You don’t need to follow all the rules - a design sprint can be flexible”
Andrea Jezovit at the Guardian

  • Strong ‘sprint’ leadership
    Acoss a number of areas team management, UX design, prototyping and research skills. In the Google Design Playbook they describe this role as a ‘Sprint Master’. In my experience the set-up and planning requires someone to drive the project. It can be a leading partnership, but at the end of the day Design Sprint is a fast process that needs experienced leadership that can make informed decisions on all aspects to drive the team.

"The Sprint is something to design. This is the job of the Sprint Master. A good Sprint Master follows a workflow of task to do before, during and after the sprint."
Google Product Design Sprint Playbook  

When not to use it?

If any of these are not possible, Design Sprint it might not be the right process for you. It is totally fine to rule out an exciting new tool or process based on not having the type of problem or conditions for success. Be clear about why this might be the case, a clear explanation can work to leverage the right option or set up good conditions for the future.

Its worth remembering that Google is just one organisation and maybe very different to your own. So a process born in one organisation might have

Find out more…

Design System case studies

 Design System books

Google Design Sprint

Tools for running and designing your Sprint

george sheldrake
Previous

What are user-centred service journeys? 
Next

What are Design Sprints good for?