I’m upset with myself because I was entirely unaware of what a design sprint was until a few weeks ago. I’d argue most people don’t know what a design sprint is, so it shouldn’t be something to be upset about. However, it involves so many of my favorite things that it’s astonishing to me that I’ve never encountered it before. 

I am an athlete and a creative person and the number one thing that both of those have taught me is that process is the primary dictator of outcome. Process is the key to creation and design sprints are a detailed process. A design sprint is a carefully designed team project aimed at “providing teams with a practical framework to solve problems and innovate efficiently.” Design teams are created with members that come from different disciplines or backgrounds and the sprint is designed to enable high levels of cross-functional collaboration. The goal of these sprints, as opposed to more traditional solutions, is to compress months’ worth of work into a five-day process. 

What is the five-day process of a design sprint?

1. Understand & Define
2. Diverge
3. Decide
4. Prototype 
5. Test

The Sprint Handbook

My initial reaction to this process was doubt. How much can truly be accomplished in such little time? This process is designed to create a final product. Certainly, the final product won’t be perfect, but there is so much value in having a finished product to examine. Jake Knapp claims in his book Sprint that, “Focusing on the surface allows you to move fast and answer big questions before you commit to execution, which is why any challenge, no matter how large, can benefit from a sprint.” The final product of the sprint gives the foundation to “work backward to figure out the underlying systems or technology.” The final product from the sprint won’t necessarily be what ends up in the consumers’ hands, but to continue to develop something that is whole rather than assembling parts over a long period of time can have great benefits. 

Over the coming weeks, we will dive more into the specific days and challenges that could be met during Design sprints.

For the time being, I would like to discuss something that should take place prior to the design sprint to enhance team chemistry. To bring the athlete side of myself into things, I believe the job of a coach is to put his players in the best positions to succeed. Similarly, in a design sprint, you want everyone to play to their strengths. The name might be dry and uninviting, but Personal User Manuals are one of the best tools to help facilitate an environment where everyone can play to their strengths. 

“A personal user manual (PUM) is a document that allows you to explicitly communicate how you best work, who you are as a human being and provide others advice, ideas and a framework to best interact with you.”

Adam cammies

Rather than assuming what works best for others and wasting time trying to become a cohesive group, PUMs allow team members to gain a deeper insight into who they are working with leaving little up to question. Participants can include things like their favorite environment to work, best communication styles, how they respond in groups versus one-on-one, areas of weakness, and core values. By doing this, the facilitator of the team will be able to act like a coach and put everyone in positions where they are most likely to succeed.