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

When it became obvious that Glitch wasn’t going to be a hit, the company did something strange. Instead of making a different game or closing down, they shifted their efforts to a side project: a messaging system they had originally built for their own use. The startup’s founder, Stewart Butterfield, had a hunch that this messaging system could be useful to other companies, too. So they launched it to the public, and named it

The lesson of Melitta Bentz is that great innovation is built on existing ideas, repurposed with vision.

When it became obvious that Glitch wasn’t going to be a hit, the company did something strange. Instead of making a different game or closing down, they shifted their efforts to a side project: a messaging system they had originally built for their own use. The startup’s founder, Stewart Butterfield, had a hunch that this messaging system could be useful to other companies, too. So they launched it to the public, and named it Slack.
Technology companies went bonkers for Slack. A year after launch, more than 500,000 people on more than 60,000 teams used Slack every single day. For workplace software, this kind of growth was unheard of. When Slack announced they were the fastest growing business app of all time, the press agreed.

Decisions take willpower, and you only have so much to spend each day. You can think of willpower like a battery that starts the morning charged but loses a sip with every decision (a phenomenon called “decision fatigue”).

“What will make this project a success?” “What’s our unique advantage or opportunity?” “What’s the biggest risk?”

Get that surface right, and you can work backward to figure out the underlying systems or technology. Focusing on the surface allows you to move fast and answer big questions before you commit to execution, which is why any challenge, no matter how large, can benefit from a sprint.

This book is a DIY guide for running your own sprint to answer your pressing business questions. On Monday, you’ll map out the problem and pick an important place to focus. On Tuesday, you’ll sketch competing solutions on paper. On Wednesday, you’ll make difficult decisions and turn your ideas into a testable hypothesis. On Thursday, you’ll hammer out a realistic prototype. And on Friday, you’ll test it with real live humans.

Unfortunately, we are not geniuses. Savioke’s sprint worked because of the real experts: the people who were on the team all along. We just gave them a process to get it done.

So where should we spend our effort? With only five days in the sprint, you have to focus on a specific target.

Choose a big challenge. Use sprints when the stakes are high, when there’s not enough time, or when you’re just plain stuck. (p. 26)
• Get a Decider (or two). Without a Decider, decisions won’t stick. If your Decider can’t join the entire sprint, have her appoint a delegate who can. (p. 31)
• Recruit a sprint team. Seven people or fewer. Get diverse skills along with the people who work on the project day-to-day. (p. 34)
• Schedule extra experts. Not every expert can be in the sprint all week. For Monday afternoon, schedule fifteen- to twenty-minute interviews with extra experts. Plan for two to three hours total. (p. 36)
• Pick a Facilitator. She will manage time, conversations, and the overall sprint process. Look for someone who’s confident leading a meeting and synthesizing discussions on the fly. It might be you! (p. 36)
• Block five full days on the calendar. Reserve time with your sprint team from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. (p. 40)
• Book a room with two whiteboards. Reserve a sprint room for the entire week. If it doesn’t have two whiteboards in it already, buy some or improvise. Book a second room for Friday’s interviews. (p. 44)
Key Ideas
• No distractions. No laptops, phones, or iPads allowed. If you need your device, leave the room or wait for a break. (p. 41)
• Timebox. A tight schedule builds confidence in the sprint process. Use a Time Timer to create focus and urgency. (p. 47)
• Plan for a late lunch. Snack break around 11:30 a.m. and lunch around 1 p.m. This schedule maintains energy and avoids