Title: Sprint. How to solve big, problems and test new ideas in just five days
Authors: Jake Knapp with John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz
Year: 2016
Publishers: Transworld publishers, London
Pages: 274
INTRODUCTION TO THE METHOD
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Cuts the endless debate cycle and compress months of time in to a single week.
The focus on individual work, time to prototype, and an inescapable deadline.
A practical way to apply philosophies of Lean and Design Thinking.
Definition of Sprint is different from Agile but complementary.
The method saves time, reduces bias, gives each individual chance to think and contribute.
The decider, the person in charge gets decision making assistance and thereby eases the pressure to make
the right decision for their companies and teams.
A brief overview of the activities on the five days is presented.
Monday through Wednesday is filled with activities related to identifying the problem, generating ideas,
critiquing and making the final selection. Thursday is devoted to prototype creation and Friday is review of
prototype and collecting reactions from the customer.
MONDAY
 Draw the Map- is a simple diagram that can be used in the case of complex Business challenges.
 Maps can be created using few words and few arrows and occasional boxes.
 The team need to agree on the structure of the problem without getting tied up in completing solutions. A
quick draft should be done in 30-60 minutes.
 It involves listening and converting the concerns and complaints to a. Long term goal and b. simple sprint
questions. Flatiron Health’s case is used as illustration.
 Rest of the day is spent on interviewing the experts in the team to gather more information about the
problem and keep updating the maps
 Interviewing the experts- Allow half hour for each of them. Follow the steps Introduce the sprint, review the whiteboards, ask the tell everything they know about the challenge at hand,
most important ask them to tell you where you have got it wrong, would they add more Sprint questions,
what opportunities do they see
 Fix the whiteboards, make the revision, Add Sprint questions, change map, update long-term goal.
 The team make their own observations on sticky notes. The stand out notes will help make a decision about
which part of the map to target on Tuesday. The notes will be in the form of How Might We-HME.
 The HME notes are then arranged according to the themes but does not have to be perfect. Give 10 minutes
this task.
 Move to prioritization- Ask everyone to vote in silence for the most useful HME questions. Each person gets
two votes and the decider gets four votes.
 This way one specific target for the rest of the Sprint’s efforts gets chosen.
 The decider needs to choose one target customer and one target event on the map. Whatever is chosen
becomes the focus of the rest of the sprint- The sketches, Prototype and test, all flow from this decision.
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TUESDAY
 Collecting and synthesizing these ideas is an exercise called Lightening Demos. Team will take turns giving
3-minute tours of their favorite solutions: from other products, from different domains and from within
their own company.
 As the demos are proceeding, big ideas are captured on white board- about 10-20 ideas.
 Sketch- Done on Tuesday afternoon. It is the time to come up with solutions by working individually, taking
time and sketch.
 Brainstorming, deferring of judgement is ruled out. Hence it is called work alone together. Working alone
offers time to do research, find inspiration, and think about the problem.
 The four-step sketch contains- a) 20 minutes to “boot up” by taking notes on the goals, opportunities and
inspiration collected around the room, b) 20 minutes to write down rough ideas, c) Explore alternative ideas
(each time asking “what would be another good way to do this?) with a rapid sketching exercise, d) 30
minutes or more to draw solution sketch- a single well-formed concept with all the details worked out.
WEDNESDAY
 Wednesday morning is about critiquing each solution and decide which ones have the best chance of
achieving the long-term goal.
There is a five-step process to optimize sprint decisions1) Art Museum- Display sketches on the wall in one long row just like paintings in a museum.
2) Heat Map- The ideas will have to stand on their own and there is no opportunity for presentation/explain
the solution and the rationale behind it. Each person looks at a solution sketch, puts dot stickers besides
the parts they like, two or three dots on the most exciting ideas and write on a sticker note below if they
have a concern or question.
3) Speed Critique- The facilitator describes each sketch, calls out the stand out ideas, reviews concern and
questions and finally the creator of the sketch reveals their identity, explains any missed ideas that the team
failed to spot and answers questions.
4) Straw Poll- It is a quick way for the whole team to express their opinions (individually for one minute only)
on why they voted one potential idea. It also serves as a way to give the decider some advice.
5) Supervote- The decider will get three special votes and that will be chosen for prototype and test.
 Creating the Storyboard Create around 15 frames.
 The opening scene needs to have the right context to help customers.
 Make sure the whole prototype can be tested in about 15 minutes leaving the rest of the interview time for
customer to think aloud and answer.
THURSDAY
 Turning the storyboard in to a realistic (not real) prototype.
 Longer one spends on building something, one gets attached, committed and less receptive to feedback.
So, it is building a façade with a prototype mindset and ensuring just right quality.
FRIDAY
 The focus is on prototype exposure and interviewing about five customers on their reactions, thoughts and
impressions about the prototype.
 Every interview draws the team closer to the people they are trying to help with product or service.
The author has made the final section rich with checklists that includes time-wise break-up of activities spread
across the five days.
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