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Current times demand constant attention to news. Particularly in the IT sector, managers need to be always aware of the possibilities and innovations that the market can offer and apply in routine activities.
Therefore, following technological advances is essential to ensure better production performance and Design Sprint is one of the most used techniques in this regard. Thus, adopting this methodology for the sectors of the company that deal with technology is extremely advantageous.
Therefore, take this opportunity to read this article that we have prepared and deepen your knowledge on the subject!
After all, what is a design sprint?
Design Sprint is one of the main new problem solving approaches for organizations, being essential for the Information Technology area. It is similar to the Kanban model and it is an agile method that aligns with others, such as SMART, Lean and Kanban, contributing to the performance of project evaluations within the company.
Its proposal is a “design express” approach, where groups of people meet in sequence over 5 days, analyzing the project in question, identifying critical aspects, positive aspects and doing tests with users. This approach was created by Google Ventures, a subsidiary of the technology giant that seeks to offer innovative solutions.
With the aim of rationalizing production time, the responsible professionals create, design and design the idea in up to 5 days, resulting in a product that has been previously tested with users and can be delivered in just 40 hours.
The Design Sprint methodology is often applied in startups to generate innovations, which require maturation, and also in large corporations to create internal projects. This approach involves the participation of a variety of professionals, such as the CEO or other stakeholder, designers, a Product Manager, someone with expertise in knowing the users of the product, and also a technical expert related to the product. Finally, a facilitator is needed to guide the meetings.
How does it work in practice?
The Design Sprint was created to accelerate the cycle between the concept of a product and its release to the market, as well as usability. Normally, the creation process can last for weeks, while this method allows possible improvements to be identified more quickly.
From that outside, this methodology is ideal for those companies that want to accelerate the formation of hypotheses, measurement of results and corrections of these results. It works in five days by the following steps:
- Mapping — On the first day of the Design Sprint, the entire team comes together to understand the question behind the design for better organization. It could be a fix for something that already exists, an improvement to an existing process, or the creation of something completely new. At this stage, everything must be discussed in depth until a starting point is reached and an objective to be achieved by the fifth day is established;
- idealization — on the second day, after identifying the problem, it’s time to think about solutions. Using the brainstorming technique, the team can opine freely, providing multiple points of view for possible solutions. Having a diverse team results in rich contributions, as each brings a unique lens. At the end, all ideas are grouped and discussed;
- decision — on the third day, when a problem has been identified and several ideas have been suggested, we are ready to deliberate on which ones are suitable to try. The criterion here is to observe their potential results, assess whether the ideas are feasible to be implemented, and verify whether their implementation is feasible;
- prototyping — with the test idea already chosen, it is time to shape the prototype. This is not the step of creating a finished product, but of making the solution visible so that the user can test it in a controlled environment. Therefore, it is worth using online programs, 3D printing and other alternatives to finalize the prototype on the fourth day, as well as to program the test activities;
- test — after an intense week of meetings, the last day of the Design Sprint was reserved for testing. In other words, this means that prototypes were delivered to users and their feedback was collected in real time.
By finishing the Design Sprint steps, the IT team can gather all the data obtained from the experiments and build an action plan to drive the evolution of the solution.
What are the types of design sprints?
Generally speaking, there are four types of design sprints that can be approached in solving various problems. Understand now what they are.
product design sprint
The most common application of the methodology is the Product Sprint, which allows the generation of numerous ideas, such as: a complete User Experience Map; Prototypes that help to test new features; and also Interactive Prototypes to validate new flows.
Process Design Sprint
Once adopted, the methodology can drastically transform the performance of business activities, ranging from areas such as Human Resources, to Law, Marketing and Finance. At the end of each optimization session, the results can be compiled into a flow map, a study of the surrounding environment and an application plan.
vision design sprint
This is a race that focuses on long-term benefits. The aim is to predict what a product might become in the future, thus investigating broad challenges and possibilities. The vision sprint helps identify tools and resources needed to achieve this future production goal.
Design sprint aiming for the moon
This sprint has the objective of providing innovation. The team is invited to look beyond the limits and create something that has never existed before. The end result does not have to be a finished product. It can also be a plan of disruptive ideas, a presentation with proposals and solutions to a problem, or an inspiring video that shows opportunities.
When applied in the Information Technology area, the Design Sprint presents itself as an effective strategy to improve the company’s results, enabling the development of clear and well-structured ideas to be shown to potential customers.
Was the content helpful? Another crucial topic is knowing about agile methodologies for greater productivity. Want to know more? So check it out!
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