The Design Sprint - Designing Products Really Fast!

As product designers, we want to explain to you the design sprint process so that you can better understand how to develop and validate your product ideas without getting too deep into the development process (thus preserving the development budget). In this article, we will discuss the basic resources and the design sprint toolkit, the Google design sprint process overview, the various stages of the sprint design process, and how to prototype and test your ideas with users. But first, our story....

Product Design in a post-covid world

One thing is for sure, no one anticipated that the entire world would be disrupted, businesses would close, and jobs would be lost. Fortunately, Freda and I left Berlin, returned to Australia and decided to take up residency on the Sunshine Coast. Coincidentally, we moved into the same building with another Senior product designer on the Sunshine Coast. It didn't take long for the creative minds to realise that there was a need for product design in a post-covid world. The design sprint would be the next logical step for this small team of creatives, led by Jackson Beale, we aimed to solve some significant problems for local businesses on the Sunshine Coast.

‍

What is a design sprint?

A design sprint is a process developed by former Google employee Jake Knapp to help teams rapidly develop and validate their product ideas. The process is time-constrained and consists of five phases that use design thinking with the aim of reducing the risk when bringing a new product, service, or feature to the market. The process aims to help teams clearly define their goals, validate their assumptions, and decide on a product roadmap before starting development. The five phases are as follows:
‍

• Understand
• Define
• Ideate
• Prototype
• Test

‍

‍

‍

The design sprint toolkit

The basic resources required for a design sprint include a facilitator, a team of cross-functional experts, a space to work, and basic supplies like post-it notes, pens, paper, and a whiteboard. Additionally, there are various tools and frameworks available to facilitate each phase of the design sprint process. The Design Sprint Toolkit is one such resource that provides a comprehensive set of tools for each phase of the sprint.

The Google design sprint process overview

The Google design sprint process is a well-known and widely used version of the design sprint process. It follows a similar structure to the five-phase process outlined above, but with a few additional steps. These steps include:

1. Understand: This phase involves understanding the problem and setting a long-term goal for the sprint.
2. Sketch: In this phase, the team sketches various solutions to the problem individually.
3. Decide: The team reviews all the sketches and decides on the best solution to prototype.
4. Prototype: In this phase, the team creates a high-fidelity prototype of the selected solution.
5. Validate: The team tests the prototype with real users to gather feedback and validate their assumptions.

Understanding the problem

In the Understand phase of a Design Sprint, the team tries to gain a deep understanding of the problem they are trying to solve. The team might have a vague idea of the problem, but they need to establish a clear understanding of the problem and its context. The team must gather information, insights, and data that will help them understand the problem deeply. They may also examine the user's pain points, behaviours, and motivations.

During the Understand phase, the team tries to set a long-term goal for the sprint. The long-term goal should be a concrete objective that the team hopes to achieve by the end of the sprint. It should be specific, measurable, and actionable. The long-term goal sets the direction for the sprint and helps the team focus on the most important problems. The long-term goal should align with the overall goals of the project and should be agreed upon by all stakeholders involved in the sprint.

The Understand phase is essential as it sets the foundation for the rest of the sprint. Without a clear understanding of the problem and the long-term goal, the team will have difficulty in generating ideas and creating a successful prototype.

How Might We turn this problem into an opportunity?

"How might we" is a technique used to reframe problems as opportunities. This technique involves asking a series of questions that start with "How might we" to explore different possibilities and generate new ideas. The goal is to identify potential solutions to the problem and create a more optimistic mindset around it.

‍

‍

Ideation and sketching

The ideation/sketch phase is a critical step in the design sprint process where the team generates a wide range of potential solutions to the problem identified in the understand phase. In this phase, the team members work individually and sketch their ideas on paper. The objective is to generate as many solutions as possible, without worrying about the quality of the idea.

The ideation phase typically lasts for about an hour or two, during which time team members work quietly and independently. The team leader may provide some prompts or questions to guide the team's thinking, but for the most part, the team members work on their own. This allows each team member to generate their own unique solutions to the problem.

After the sketching phase, each team member presents their ideas to the group. The team then discusses and consolidates their ideas, identifying the most promising solutions. The goal is to come up with a small number of solutions that the team will move forward with in the next phase of the design sprint process.
Decide on the best solution to prototype

The team reviews all the sketches and decides on the best solution to prototype. They consider factors like feasibility, desirability, and viability before selecting the solution. The selected solution is then prototyped and tested with users.

Create a story board

Creating a storyboard is an important step in the prototype phase of the design sprint process. The storyboard helps the team visualise the user journey and how the product or service fits into their experience. It is essentially a comic-strip like sequence of illustrations or images that shows the different screens or interactions that the user will have with the product or service.

The storyboard is created using the insights and ideas generated from the previous steps in the design sprint process. The team will take the user journey map, and use it as a basis for creating the storyboard. The user journey map will identify the different touch points that the user will have with the product or service, and the storyboard will show how those touch points will be visually represented.

Once the storyboard is created, the team will review it and make any necessary revisions. It is important that the storyboard accurately represents the user journey and is easy to understand. The team will also use the storyboard to identify any potential roadblocks or issues with the user experience, and make changes as needed.

Test it with users

Testing is a critical part of the design sprint process. During this step, it's important to have a plan for user recruitment, screening, and logistics. The team should identify the target users and find ways to recruit them. The team should also determine the location and logistics of the user testing sessions. The user test should not be confused with usability testing, which is done at a later stage in the design process (after validation).

Validating the assumptions

This is probably the most critical step in the design sprint process as it allows the team to gather valuable feedback from real users and validate their assumptions. In this phase, the team shares the prototype with a group of users who fit the target audience profile. The users are asked to complete tasks using the prototype while the team observes and takes notes on their behaviour and feedback.

After the user testing sessions, the team should analyse the feedback and observations to determine what worked well and what needs improvement. The team should also compare the feedback to the assumptions made in the previous phases to identify any gaps or discrepancies.

Based on the feedback gathered during the user testing sessions, the team can make further refinements to the prototype or move forward with the next phase of the design sprint process. If significant issues are identified during the user testing sessions, the team may need to revisit the prototype and make additional changes.

Learning from feedback

Learning from feedback is an essential part of the design sprint process. Feedback helps teams understand what works and what doesn't work with their prototypes. It also provides insights into user needs and preferences, which can be used to improve the product or service.

Decide on the Best Solution to Prototype

Based on the feedback you received from users, you may need to make changes to your prototype or go back to the drawing board entirely. The goal is to identify the best solution to prototype based on user feedback and your own goals and objectives.

‍

Conclusion

The design sprint process is a powerful tool for rapidly developing and testing product ideas. By bringing together cross-functional teams and using a structured process, you can quickly prototype and test ideas to validate assumptions and reduce the risk of failure and/or to save on unnecessary development costs.

‍

‍

‍