Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

Love it for creative processes but also what it does for the team: enabling collaboration in a very structured and productive way

We've been using Design Sprints in a large Malaysian telco, from 2016 to 2018, to rapidly test and validate new ideas to solving problems. Several issues come into play when adopting this in large traditional corporations:

a) resistance to trying new things

b) "sketching", "storyboarding" and other "new" exercises can often be seen as superfluous; some participants we've managed have looked at these parts as a waste of time

If your team is thinking of doing this for your organization, some tips include:

1. Do a mock run yourselves first, before facilitating others

2. Have the book handy as a reference, and refer to it often -- even when you've been doing these sprints for a long time

3. Be flexible with the sprint timing and agenda -- stakeholders in large corporations often don't have enough time to commit

4. Be ready to chop and change the daily agenda around, especially when stakeholders, deciders and experts change their schedule at the last minute

Showed my team how we can talk more effectively and efficiently, and do more quicker and with less debate.