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

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

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days presents a structured five-day process for tackling complex challenges through rapid prototyping and customer testing. Written by Jake Knapp, a designer who developed the Sprint method during his time at Google and later refined it at Google Ventures with collaborators John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz, the book outlines a practical framework rooted in design thinking. Knapp, known for running over 100 Sprints at companies including Google, Slack, and Nest, draws from real-world applications to compress months of product development into one week. Within the design discipline, Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days focuses on product innovation and UX research, offering teams a repeatable method to validate ideas before committing significant resources. The approach emphasizes mapping problems, generating solutions, and gathering user feedback efficiently, making it applicable across industries like healthcare, finance, and retail.

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

• Assembling a small, cross-functional team and selecting a focused challenge to address during the Sprint process.
• Mapping the customer journey and long-term goals on Monday to define the problem space clearly.
• Generating diverse solution ideas through individual sketching and group activities like Lightning Demos on Tuesday.
• Evaluating and selecting the most promising concept via voting and storyboarding on Wednesday.
• Building a realistic prototype from the storyboard on Thursday, using simple tools without full coding or manufacturing.
• Conducting user tests with target customers on Friday to observe reactions and identify insights.

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

Readers of Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days gain a detailed, day-by-day blueprint for executing the Sprint process, including specific exercises and facilitation techniques developed by Jake Knapp and his Google Ventures team. The book distinguishes itself by providing hour-by-hour guidance that integrates elements of design sprints, such as expert input sessions, four-step sketching, and low-fidelity prototyping to simulate real products. Key frameworks include compressing decision-making timelines to test assumptions early, prioritizing one critical objective per Sprint, and using customer validation to reveal flaws without extended development. Knapp emphasizes practical adaptations for various team sizes and contexts, from startups to large organizations, highlighting how Sprints shortcut traditional timelines in product management and innovation workflows.

Who Is Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days For?

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days targets product managers, designers, and development teams seeking structured methods for rapid idea validation in UX research and design thinking. It suits cross-functional groups in startups, established companies, non-profits, or educational settings facing big opportunities or uncertainties, particularly those with limited time for experimentation. Jake Knapp's guide supports facilitators leading innovation workshops or anyone involved in prototyping and customer testing phases of product development. Learn more about Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days