What are the 10 benefits of doing a Design Sprint? 

Design Sprint? I have heard of it but do not get what the fuss is all about. Indeed, this has become one of those trendy buzzwords that most of us do not comprehend. Still, this 5-day process developed by Google has a lot to bring to any team that needs to design disruptive products and services. A Design Sprint takes you from a world of unknowns to a clear, proven answer. Let’s discover what you concretely get at the end of these 5 days. 

The 4 deliverables you get at the end of a Design Sprint 

1. A Proof of Concept 

The main goal of a Design Sprint is to materialize an idea into a realistic project. At the end of a Sprint, you leave with a POC that has been tested on end-users. This means you have concrete material, feedback, and learnings about the desirability and usability of your idea. This allows you to align your team with a shared vision, and with clearly defined goals and deliverables. But also, to test whether you are going in the right direction. 

2. User Testing 

A crucial part of a Design Sprint is dedicated to user testing. 
The goal? Find out the desirability and usability of your clickable prototype. A pool of end-users is recruited to test the porotype and get feedback. Each aspect of the prototype is tested: how they can use it, can they find the info, can they make the actions, what do they understand, how do they perceive the product, is it working for them, everything is considered to provide you with a comprehensive report including users’ recommendations and the status of each assumption. 

3. A storyboard 

It is good to have an idea that solves a problem you defined. The next question is, how do you know where to start when it comes to developing this idea? Well, the Design Sprint guides you in the building of a clear storyboard, that gathers each step needed to test your idea. Indeed, a storyboard maps out each step of the experience that you want to test and clarifies the pieces you need to prototype. At this point in the Design Sprint, the team often begins to brainstorm aspects of the product, some of which might be outside the scope of your Sprint challenge and prototype, but still relevant for further steps. 

4. A user testing report 

At the end of the Sprint, user insights and behavior observations are gathered during user testing and are centralized in a report. Based on this report and clear KPIs previously defined during the Sprint, the team decides whether the prototype and the idea behind are worth developing. This user testing report is the key to ensuring you develop your idea under a user-centered vision. 

The 5 great impacts the Design Sprint has on you and your team 

5. Learnings 

After a Design Sprint workshop, you have learned a lot of things. Both on the business opportunity and on your target; but also, on the Design Thinking methodology and on the whole desirability validation process.

6. Knowledge sharing 

The team of a Design Sprint is made up of several stakeholders. Among them? Members of your company, experts in their fields (finance, marketing, customer, tech/coordination, design,) a decider, and a Design Sprint facilitator. For 3-5 days you dive deep into the design world and learn from each participant. This is an enriching experience from which you will grow. 

7. A Perspective on a given challenge  

Having a clear and defined vision is an important thing to make sure your team is motivated. The Design Sprint is the ideal process for anyone who needs validation regarding the desirability of its project. During the workshop, you go through some validation processes that will give you key answers on the relevance of your idea. It is the best way to have a view of the market fit and your user expectations. It allows you to get a high return on investment, and a result-oriented process. Besides, it gets everybody in the core team, aligned with the project. No need to remind that the method guarantees tangible deliverables: a clickable prototype, a clear roadmap for the next actions,… 

8. A wonderful experience 

Besides the several benefits regarding project maturity, you also have the opportunity to bring your team together and to make them focused on a common goal. Spending those entire days together in another context than usual is an effective way to strengthen cohesion and a sense of belonging to the team. Plus, it gathers members of the company who are not used to collaborating and shows them how to do so. Once the 5 days are over, many Sprinters tend to say that this experience has brought the team closer together and led them to another point of view. 

9. An immersion into the Design Thinking mindset 

The Design Sprint is inspired by the Design Thinking methodology which is a problem-solving approach. In this regard, a lot of its techniques are applied and run during the 5 days. You learn how to use them but also how to implement this methodology as a mindset for your future projects. The Design Thinking methodology is made of a user-centered perspective with rational and analytical research that once combined, leads to innovative solutions, and to time and money savings. 

And finally… 

10. Get persuasive arguments to convince your board 

A well-prepared Design Sprint enables you to overcome a strategic business challenge. Management expectations are big and your impact even bigger after a Design Sprint. Within 5 days you have solved a key business challenge and (in)validated the idea. You have also aligned the team with the same conclusion. Once done, you can learn how to pitch the results of the Sprint to make sure the project you are thinking of developing will be supported by your top management, board of innovation, investors, etc. 

A last word…

In a nutshell, we can state that the Design Sprint is the format made for each team keen to innovate in a smart and efficient way. Not only does the Design Sprint make you save time and money before investing seriously in a new project, but it also provides you with strong validation based on end-user feedback. Whatever the result, you win since you know whether it is worth you to invest in the project. Plus, you have learned a lot. 

At World of Digits, we facilitate Design Sprint. Our added-value? A wide panel of experts can be involved at any time in the project. Before, during, and after the Design Sprint, we can support our client from A to Z. 

Interested in knowing more? You can contact us – corp_hello(a)worldofdigits.com or read more about one of our cases.