Do you really need five whole days for a Design Sprint? It might seem like a lot of time initially, but the truth is that five days really isn’t that much time if it keeps you from investing months, maybe even a year, in something that isn't right. What I love about the five-day timeframe of a Design Sprint is that it offers enough breathing room to really explore the problem space then design and prototype an awesome solution without cutting corners just for the sake of saving a few hours.

Have you decided to lead your first Design Sprint and need some support? Or, maybe you’ve done it before and are looking for ways to make the experience even smoother and more productive. Every situation may be unique, but the DNA of the Design Sprint is hardwired to guide effective outcomes. With that in mind, and thanks to my own trial and error, I’ve honed in on what I think are the key pillars for a successful Design Sprint.

We know Design Sprints are excellent at getting teams from stuck to prototype, but why is the process so foolproof? Whether you’re a Fortune-100 company or a startup, the recipe for a Design Sprint makes an impact thanks to a few key ingredients.

Jackie partnered with Sprint book author, John Zeratsky, in 2018 & 2019 to bring Design Sprint bootcamps to Minneapolis. They were a ton of fun and we intended to bring it back to in 2020 to multiple cities but a global pandemic got in the way. In 2020, Jackie worked with John and Jake Knapp to offer the bootcamp online during three virtual workshops.

Using tested tools and frameworks takes the guesswork out of the “how” and provides a recipe to follow. But they aren’t enough. You can have the best hammer and nails but if you are too afraid to swing the hammer and make the birdhouse because it might be ugly, you’ll just have a pile of tools and no place for birds to live. When we create, we bring something new into the world. Fear arises when we think about doing anything new. New is unknown. New is novel. New is scary. Our brains want us to stay in the safe zone.

There’s been a lot written about the Design Sprint; why it works, the methods, facilitation techniques and how to use Sprints inside an org but I was interested in learning more about the process of designing the process (so meta, right?) from this conversation with John Zeratsky (JZ), co-author of SPRINT.

Design Sprints are a great way to test ideas before you invest a ton of time and money in building them out. You could certainly make something up without understanding your customer but you’ll get more out of your Sprint if you know a little something about the people you aim to help before you start.

The Job Story method takes the team deeper into the needs of the people we are solving a problem for. This means they are more likely to create a solution that meets those needs and as a result, make something people value.

When Justin Kaster and I first started talking, he was in the midst of working on the next iteration of his business ideas and wanted help defining what his team could do next. I ran a 3-day Design Sprint with Justin’s team to design, test, and get feedback on new concepts that could help him evaluate the best next direction for his business.

The magic of the Design Sprint is its ability to neutralize politics. When I work with teams, I have frank conversations about politics and team dynamics going into the Sprint. The agenda I design takes into consideration the realities of those dynamics. I use methods to draw out ideas from everyone in the room and facilitate sharing and dialog so that politics aren’t what matters and great ideas can shine through.

These methods used are both a means to solve the challenges at hand and as practice so that educators walk away with tools they can use to continuously improve and refine on their own. First: we identify our “to solve” and refine by putting the human beings we aim to help at the center of our problem solving. Then: we come up with new ideas rapidly. Last: we define solutions that will be tested and tried after our work together.

If you are excited about something, jealous of someone or have a desire to say no so that you can say yes to something else, ask yourself: “How you are standing in your own way?” I’m out on my own running collaborative design sprints for clients to solve problems and come up with new ideas for products, services or experiences in the world.