The Design Sprint could not have existed without Design Thinking. Design Thinking was first conceptualized and taught at Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley. Tom & David Kelley founded the IDEO company specializing in the design of physical products. Like many of today’s startups, they created multidisciplinary teams (ethnologists, designers, marketing specialists, etc.) to solve problems or design innovative products.
The 5 stages of Design thinking are:
Empathy: understand the context of the user
Define: define the problems encountered
Ideate: imagine new solutions
Prototype: create the most interesting solutions
Test: try it with real users and improve the product based on feedback
One of the things companies are struggling with when it comes to integrating Design Thinking is that it’s more of a philosophy than a true “out of the box” method. This is precisely the value of the Design Sprint.
The Design Sprint offers a very precise path, a timebox with a succession of clear and comprehensible exercises. Every day is rhythmic and the work progresses quickly. At the end of a Sprint, the results are visible and artifacts such as prototypes or videos of the tests can be presented to both internal and external partners. Design sprint leader will ensure that time is well used and that the return on investment of these 5 days is maximum.
The Design Sprint takes the principles of Design Thinking, and turns it onto an eminently pragmatic practice.