Title: Sprint

Recommendation: 8.8/10

Summary:

The longer assumptions remain unexamined, the greater the risk.

To minimize the lift to check assumptions three Googlers developed sprint, a problem-solving approach.

A sprint is limited to 5 days, because…

– Weekends lose continuity

– After 5 days distraction & procrastination creep in

– We become more attached to our ideas and less willing to learn from colleagues or customers.

Although this approach is most frequently used by product and engineering teams, it can be applied to IT teams, marketers, entrepreneurs, etc.

Highlights:

Start with the end in mind, “At the end of the sprint what questions should be answered?” “What would have improved about the business as a result of our project/product?

Longer hours don’t equal better results. By getting the right people together, structuring the activities, and eliminating distraction, we’ve found that it’s possible to make rapid progress while working a reasonable schedule.

When all you have are data points, you have to guess what your customer is thinking. When you’re in an interview with them, you can just ask.

Prototype mindset. You can prototype anything. Prototypes are disposable. Build just enough to learn, but not more.

Turning ideas into visuals via sketch is the fastest and easiest way to transform abstract ideas into concrete solutions

Individuals working alone generate better solutions than groups brainstorming out loud

Not hard for creators to make great arguments for mediocre ideas or give great explanations for indecipherable ideas. In the real world creators won’t be there to give a sales pitch or clues.

Customer reaction to prototypes = gold

Feedback = pennies