TwosWrite things down

Sprint by Jake Knapp

Sprint by Jake Knapp

by Parker · 67 things on Twos

Focus on the product or services interaction with the customer first. You can work backwards to figure out the underlying systems or technology
The ideal size for a sprint is seven people or fewer
You want people who have deep expertise and are excited about the challenge
The team
The Decider: whoever makes decisions for the team
Finance expert
Marketing expert
Customer expert
Tech/logistics expert
Design expert
Bring the troublemaker or the person who has strong, contrary opinions. Troublemakers see problems differently from everyone else
The Facilitator is responsible for managing time, conversations, and the overall process. She needs to be confident leading a meeting, including summarizing discussions and telling people it's time to stop talking and move on
The Sprint schedule is from 10am to 5pm with an hour long lunch in the middle and two short breaks
No laptops, phones, or iPads allowed
Monday begins with Start at the End
Lay out the basics: your long-term goal and the difficult questions that must be answered
If you could jump ahead to the end of your sprint, what questions would be answered? If you went six months or a year further into the future, what would have improved about your business as a result of this project?
"Why are we doing this project? Where do we want to be six months, a year, or even five years from now?"
Write down your long-term goal to keep everyone moving in the same direction
Now image you've gone forward in time one year, and your project was a disaster. What caused it to fail? How did your goal go wrong?
Beneath every goal is a dangerous assumption. The longer those assumptions remain unexamined, the greater the risk. Ferret out assumptions, turn them into questions, and find some answers
The map you’ll create on Monday will show customers moving through your service or product
Create a simple and straightforward map which will include the major steps for customers to move from beginning to completion
A map is customer-centric, with a list of key actors on the left. Each map is a story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It is composed of nothing more than words, arrows, and a few boxes
You draft your map on Monday morning once you’ve written down your long term goal and sprint questions
List the actors on the left
Write the ending on the right
Words and arrows in between
This should take between 30-60 minutes
For the rest of the day you’ll interview the experts in the team to gather more information about the problem space
Nobody knows everything, not even the CEO. Information is distributed asymmetrically across the team and across the company
Useful questions for the decider: What will make this project a success? What’s our unique advantage or opportunity? What’s the biggest risk?
Whoever talks to your customers the most will have crucial insights
Allow half an hour for each conversation with an expert
Introduce the sprint
Review the long term goal, sprint questions, and map for two minutes
Ask them to tell you everything they know about the challenge
Ask questions
Fix the whiteboards
How might we...?
Then organize your "how might we" notes on a wall. Group them by themes. Then everyone gets two votes on the most important problems to solve
The final task on Monday is to choose a target for your sprint. Who is the most important customer, and what's the critical moment of that customer's experience?
The Decider needs to choose one target customer and one target event on the map
Review other good products for ideas and inspiration
You may divide up the problem, but everyone should now sketch a solution for the problem
Sketching is the fastest and easiest way to transform abstract ideas into concrete solutions which can be evaluated by the rest of the team
Individuals working alone generate better solutions than groups brainstorming out loud
When working on big projects, find the first small action needed to make progress and go from there
Tuesday: Notes -> Ideas -> Crazy 8's -> Sketch
On Wednesday: decide which solution has the best chance of achieving your long-term goal and then create a storyboard, or a step-by-step plan for your prototype
Read all the solutions -> critique all the solutions -> decide
Use your storyboard to imagine your finished prototype, so you can spot problems and points of confusion before the prototype is built
Thursday: turn your storyboard into a realistic prototype
Reactions are solid gold, feedback is worth pennies on the dollar
The prototype mindset: 1. You can prototype anything. 2. Prototypes are disposable. 3. Build just enough to learn, but no more. 4. The prototype must appear real
Prototype steps: 1. Pick the right tools. 2. Divide and conquer. 3. Stitch it together. 4. Do a trial run
Prototype roles: 2 makers, 1 stitcher, 1 writer, 1 asset collector, 1 interviewer
End the day with a trial run
Don't analyze potential, take it for what it is
Run 5 1-hour interviews on Friday
If you don't know why a product or service isn't working, it's hard to fix it
The Five-Act Interview: 1. A friendly welcome. 2. General, open-ended context questions about the customer. 3. Introduction to the prototype. 4. Detailed tasks to get the customer reacting to the prototype. 5. A quick debrief to capture the customer's overarching thoughts and impressions
Don't ask multiple choice or "yes/no" questions
Do ask "Five Ws and One H" questions
Instead of jumping right into solutions, take your time to map out the problem and agree on an initial target. Start slow so you can go fast
Instead of getting all the details right before testing your solution, create a façade
Instead of guessing and hoping you're on the right track, test your prototype with target customers and get their honest reactions