This text is copied from the book. We need to make some updates. Use this working doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZXu1A3B6sQB7SFTPGYTYyrtNqG7zm5qGcnUTAtiMOoo/edit#
Yes. With this book, you have everything you need. In fact, you’re much better prepared than we were when we started out! [Promote bootcamp and masterclass here]
Yes. We can help via coaching, training, or finding you an expert facilitator who can run your sprint. Check out ways we can help you Sprint With Your Team.
No. The sprint requires roughly 35 hours of work from each participant. We want the team to be rested so they stay sharp and do their best work. You’ll be home for dinner.
Sort of. It’s impossible to spend thirty-five hours in a sprint and do your normal job. But since the sprint only runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, participants have the option of spending time in the morning to keep up with other work.
Yes. At big companies, it can be difficult to get time from the Decider and other experts. Focus on scheduling cameo appearances for Monday, and be sure to have the Decider delegate another decision maker who can participate every day.
Yes. The biggest challenge for a hardware sprint will be prototyping. Here are three techniques for creating a hardware prototype in one day: Modify or build on top of an existing product, even if it’s in- complete. Use 3D printing or other rapid fabrication techniques to prototype your product from scratch. Or create a Brochure Façade, which allows customers to react to your product without seeing the actual product. For more, see page 185.
Almost certainly. Adopt the prototype mindset and pretty much anything is possible. For more on the prototype mindset, see page 168.
Yes. Just like startups, nonprofits have big challenges and limited resources. The definition of “target customer” might be different, but questions about nonprofit concerns like fund-raising, public relations, and community services can all be answered by prototyping and testing with real people.
Yes. The biggest challenge to running a sprint in a classroom is scheduling. If you can find a solid week, go for it! But if your class meets only once or twice a week for a few hours each session, you’ll have to be creative.
At Columbia and Stanford, professors have adapted the sprint process by having students do one “day” each class session (either in class, or as homework with their team). Dividing the process will create a lack of continuity, and a lot of “boot up” time each session. Help students out by encouraging them to take lots of photos. If possible, let them keep their maps, sprint questions, and other notes on Post-it easel pads or something similar.
Maybe. Running a sprint with people who aren’t physically in the room is tricky. If you want to include them for Monday’s Ask the Experts exercise, or as observers of Friday’s tests, that’s relatively easy to accomplish with a video conference. But if you want to include them for other steps, you’ll need ingenuity and a strong relationship. The bottom line: Nothing that happens on paper or on a whiteboard will work very well for your remote teammates. (Hopefully the technology to solve this problem is just around the corner, but it’s not quite here yet.)
Sort of. Don’t expect a solo sprint to be as good as a sprint with your team. But we’ve talked to people who have done it successfully, and the techniques for a sprint can be useful on your own. For example, set a timer and force yourself to come up with multiple solutions to a problem. Prototype your ideas to answer specific questions before diving into implementation. See below for more tips on how to use parts of the sprint.
No. This question comes up a lot, and we know it’s tempting. Once you identify promising ideas, you could easily jump ahead and start building them for real. The problem is this: Ideas that seem perfect on Wednesday often prove to be flawed after Friday’s test. By continuing with the sprint, and prototyping and testing, you and your team will learn whether those ideas are really as good as they appear.
We don’t recommend it. If you compress the schedule, you either won’t finish prototyping and testing (see above), or you’ll work crazy hours and burn out. Neither is a recipe for good results.
Maybe. If the team has experience running five-day sprints, you may be able to compress Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday’s activities into just two days. However, you should not compress prototyping and testing—allow one full day for each.
Yes. Follow-up sprints are exceptions to the five-day rule. Since you’ll already have a map and a prototype, as well as results from your first test to help you create new solutions and make decisions, you can often accelerate a follow-up sprint. Two things don’t change: You’ll still need a realistic prototype, and you’ll still need to test with five customers.
Yes. For a big challenge, use a full sprint. But there are lots of sprint techniques that are useful in other settings. If you need to make a small decision in a meeting, try a Note-and-Vote (p. 146). If you find yourselves frustrated by problems, try writing How Might We notes (p. 73). If you’re talking about solutions in the abstract, do a Four-Step Sketch to make them concrete (p. 109). Every meeting benefits from a Time Timer (p. 47) and a Facilitator writing notes on the whiteboard (p. 36).
And you can conduct customer interviews (p. 204) at absolutely any time—with a prototype, with your real product, with competitors’ products, or even with no product at all. We guarantee you’ll learn something.
No. A “focus group” is ten or so customers discussing an idea all together, all at once. Focus groups are plagued by the worst of group dynamics: shy people not talking, loudmouths talking too much, sales pitches, and a group-formed opinion that doesn’t reflect anyone’s honest feelings.
By comparison, Friday’s test features one-on-one interviews and observation of customer reactions. In these interviews, you can believe what you see.
Yes, but extra care is required. Our partner Michael Margolis runs remote tests all the time, where he uses video-conference software to share computer screens and interview customers. But this kind of interview is more difficult. You’ll need to work extra hard to engage your customer, put her at ease, and encourage her to think aloud. And the technology presents another challenge. You don’t want to waste valuable time getting your video-conference software up and running, so practice ahead of time and send your customers a detailed how-to guide for connecting.
No. After four customer interviews, it’s usually difficult to see patterns. After five, it’s easy. (Check out Jakob Nielsen’s research chart on p. 193 for an illustration of this phenomenon.) If you schedule five people and only four show up, you might be okay. But don’t schedule four or fewer.
No. You can only trust the results when you interview customers who match your target profile. Even if your friends and family happen to fit the profile, there’s another big problem: They’re biased, or at the very least they know too much. In your test, you’re looking for honest reactions from real-world customers—something you can never get from someone who knows you.
Probably not. If you’re building a product for random people who hang out at Starbucks, this might work. But even so, you’ll probably need an additional round of screening to find the exact right five customers—the Starbucks regular, the single parent, the business traveler, whatever.
Yes! We know how difficult it is to make time for customer interviews before a sprint. We usually can’t do it. But if you can, this kind of “pre-research” provides a big head start. It’s especially helpful when you’re starting from scratch and don’t already know a lot about your customers or how they use your product. For example, Blue Bottle was new to selling coffee online, so we interviewed coffee lovers before the sprint to better understand how they shop for coffee.
Yes. Check out thesprintbook.com for more information on sprints.
We love answering questions about sprints. The best way to reach us is on Twitter. Jake is @jakek, John is @jazer, Braden is @kowitz, and our team is @GVDesignTeam.