Sprint - Jake Knapp

Metadata

• Author: Jake Knapp
• Full Title: Sprint - Jake Knapp
• Category: #books

5 key takeaways

1. A five-day sprint turns big questions into tested answers.
   Monday–Friday are preset: map the problem, sketch solutions, decide on a testable hypothesis, build a realistic prototype, and put it in front of real users—so you compress months of progress into one focused week.

2. Small, customer-centric teams win.
   Limit the sprint group to seven people or fewer, work six-hour days (10 a.m.–5 p.m.), and build a simple journey map that starts with key actors and ends with their goal. This keeps energy high and decisions fast.

3. Capture insights with “How Might We” notes.
   As problems emerge, everyone writes individual HMW stickies; later you cluster and vote on the most compelling. This democratizes insight gathering and surfaces non-obvious angles to explore.

4. Prototype the surface, not the plumbing.
   Users react to what they can see—landing pages, ads, app screens, packaging. Sprint prototypes aim for believable façades, not fully functioning products, because fidelity where customers interact is what yields honest feedback.

5. Friday interviews close the loop.
   A simple, non-threatening script (“We’re testing the product, not you…”) lets five real humans expose flaws and validate assumptions such as “Will customers trust our expertise?” Rapid evidence persuades decision-makers and sets up the next iteration with confidence.

Highlights

• 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. (Location 265)
• ‘How do you make coffee at home . . . ?’ ” Braden repeated. Everyone jotted notes. James had started the sprint by explaining his vision: that the online store should match the hospitality of the cafés. It felt as if we were onto something. (Location 330)
• The surface is important. It’s where your product or service meets customers. Human beings are complex and fickle, so it’s impossible to predict how they’ll react to a brand-new solution. (Location 386)
• Rapid Progress Emphasize the amount of progress you’ll make in your sprint: In just one week, you’ll have a realistic prototype. Some Deciders are not excited about customer tests (at least, until they see one firsthand), but almost everyone loves fast results. (Location 418)
• We’ve found the ideal size for a sprint to be seven people or fewer. (Location 441)
• You’ll start at 10 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., with an hour-long lunch in between. That’s right: There are only six working hours in the typical sprint day (Location 523)
• To reach new customers, what has to be true? A: They have to trust our expertise. Q: How can we phrase that as a question? A: Will customers trust our expertise? (Location 683)
• (Location 749)
• On the left was a list of the people involved in trial enrollment: the patient and the doctor (who were central to the treatment decision) and the clinic’s research coordinator (who was easy to overlook but might be the best informed about trial availability). From there, the map showed the patient scheduling an appointment, the doctor and staff searching for matching trials, the appointment, the complete enrollment, and finally, the beginning of treatment. (Location 751)
• The common elements? Each map is customer-centric, with a list of key actors on the left. Each map is a story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. And, no matter the business, each map is simple. The diagrams are composed of nothing more than words, arrows, and a few boxes. So now that you know what a map looks like, you’re ready to make your own. (Location 766)
• The method is called How Might We. It was developed at Procter & Gamble in the 1970s, but we learned about it from the design agency IDEO. It works this way: Each person writes his or her own notes, one at a time, on sticky notes. At the end of the day, you’ll merge the whole group’s notes, organize them, and choose a handful of the most interesting ones. (Location 866)
• • Web search with your website nestled among the results • Magazine with an advertisement for your service • Store shelf with your product sitting beside its competitors • App Store with your app in it • News article that mentions your service, and possibly some competitors • Facebook or Twitter feed with your product shared among the other posts (Location 1651)
• “Thanks for coming in today! We’re always trying to improve our product, and getting your honest feedback is a really important part (Location 2167)
• “This interview will be pretty informal. I’ll ask a lot of questions, but I’m not testing you—I’m actually testing this product. If you get stuck or confused, it’s not your fault. In fact, it helps us find problems we need to fix. “I’ll start by asking some background questions, then I’ll show you some things we’re working on. Do you have any questions before we begin?” (Location 2168)