Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
Page 19
Thank you to all the instructors and classmates at Carnegie Mellon University who helped me understand design and how to use it to make the world a better place. They gave me room to practice and the confidence to make mistakes.
I have been incredibly lucky to be a part of Google for most of my career. In that time I’ve worked with countless talented and inspiring people who taught me how to make products that people love. In particular, thanks to Chad Thornton, Michael Leggett, and Darren Delaye for keeping me on my toes and always offering sharp, honest, and helpful critique.
To Joe Kraus, thank you for showing me how to help teams come together to build amazing things. Your mentorship and support through the years has meant so much to me.
It’s easy to get lost in minutiae and lose track of what’s really important in life. Thank you to Om Malik for encouraging me to follow my heart.
My closest friends have listened to me ramble about this book over many miles of hikes and pints of beer, and at every backyard picnic for the past year. Pat, Amanda, Chad, Heather, Kenneth, Brett, and Donal, you are amazing and I love you all dearly.
Most of all, I am grateful for the entire team at GV. Jake, John, Michael, Daniel, and Kristen, I can’t imagine a better team for the challenges we’ve faced or better companions for the adventures ahead.
Image Credits
Christophe Wu took the photos on pages 74, 111, and 113.
Graham Hancock took the Time Timer photo on page 47.
Adrian Canoso designed the Relay robot on page 14.
Heidi Qiao volunteered to sit for the customer test photos on pages 203 to 204.
All other photos are by either Jake Knapp, Braden Kowitz, or John Zeratsky.
Image postproduction by Braden Kowitz.
Illustrations by Jake Knapp.
JAKE KNAPP created the Google Ventures sprint process and has run more than a hundred sprints with startups such as 23andMe, Slack, Nest, and Foundation Medicine. Previously, Jake worked at Google, leading sprints for everything from Gmail to Google X. He is among the world’s tallest designers.
JOHN ZERATSKY has designed mobile apps, medical reports, and a daily newspaper (among other things). Before joining Google Ventures, he was a design lead at YouTube and an early employee of FeedBurner, which Google acquired in 2007. John writes about design and productivity for The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Wired. He studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin.
BRADEN KOWITZ founded the Google Ventures design team in 2009 and pioneered the role of “design partner” at a venture capital firm. He has advised close to two hundred startups on product design, hiring, and team culture. Before joining Google Ventures, Braden led design for several Google products, including Gmail, Google Apps for Business, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Trends.
@jakek @jazer @kowitz
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Index
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Abernethy, Amy, 61, 62, 64, 76, 77, 85–87
abstract ideas, sketching and, 106–7
actors, in maps, 66
Ads, 4
“agile” processes, 17
Airbnb, 210–11, 230
Allen, David, 108–9
“Always be capturing” mantra, 89–90, 99–100, 101
Facilitators and, 89–90
anonymity, of solution sketches, 114–15
Apollo 13, 53–54, 85, 225
Apple, 171
App Store, 171–73
art museum, in deciding process, 131, 132
Ask the Experts, 36, 68–82, 228
challenges and, 77–78
on customer perspective, 70
deciding and, 156
existing solution and, 71
in Flatiron Health sprint, 76–78, 85
interview process for, 71–72
mapping the problem and, 69–70, 76, 77
on mechanics of product, 70–71
note-taking and, see How Might We notes
on strategy, 70
Asset Collector, 188
Atlanta Falcons, 172
Atlantic Ocean, 83–84
BadgerCo, 42–43
Balsiger, Peter, 2
Bentz, Melitta, 95–96
big questions, finding answers to, 28
Blogger, 6
Blue Bottle Coffee sprint, 16, 21–25, 28, 30, 33, 57, 65, 66, 73–74, 84, 96, 101, 103–4, 108, 113, 116–17, 119, 120, 146, 153, 157, 188, 223–24
long-term goal of, 55–56
“Bot Team” (Slack solution sketch), 143–44, 175, 217, 221, 222
brainstorming groups, 230
lack of results from, 1–2, 107
Brochure Façade, 185
Brown, Tim, 43
Burka, Daniel, 5, 24, 170
Butterfield, Stewart, 129, 131, 143, 144, 217
California, University of, at Irvine, 38–39
cancer treatments:
clinical trials in, 61
genetic analysis in, 176
Canoso, Adrian, 8, 11, 12, 97–98, 178–79
challenges, 21–28
in Blue Bottle sprint, 22
choosing which to pursue, see target
experts and, see Ask the Experts
How Might We notes and, 77–78
in Slack sprint, 129–30, 216–17
in SquidCo sprint, 31
Change by Design (Brown), 43
Chen, Annie, 2–3
Chen, Steve, 6
Chipps, Nate, 229
Chrome, 4
clinical trials, 176
of cancer treatments, 61
Clooney, George, 29
coffee, freshly roasted, 21
Columbia University, 83, 229
Cousins, Steve, 7–8, 10, 11, 97–98
Craigslist, recruiting test customers with, 119–22
customer experts, 34
customer research, 5
see also tests, real-world
customers, perspective of, 70
Daniels, John T., 231
data, from sprints, 16, 32n, 123, 142, 144, 199, 204, 224
deadlines, 3, 10, 109
as challenge, 26
Deciders, 34, 70, 190, 223, 230
customer tests and, 31
in deciding process, 131, 138, 139–42, 159–60
Facilitators vs., 36, 91
in Flatiron Health sprint, 61, 85–87
need for active participation by, 30–32
real-world tests and, 31, 32
in Rumbles, 145, 146
selling sprint concept to, 31–32
in Slack sprint, 144
in storyboard process, 156
straw polls and, 87–88, 138, 139
supervotes and, 140–42
target and, 31, 32, 85–88
in trial runs, 190
deciding, 16, 125, 127–42
art museum in, 131, 132
in Blue Bottle sprint, 24–25
Deciders in, 131, 138, 139–42, 143–44, 159–60
Facilitators in, 135, 136, 137
heat map in, 131, 132–35
honesty in, 139–40
maybe-laters in, 142
Rumbles in, see Rumbles
Scribe in, 135–36
speed critique in, 131, 135–37
straw poll in, 131, 138–40
supervotes in, 131, 140–42, 143, 144
timers in, 136, 138
winners in, 141–42
decision fatigue, 159–60
design experts, 35
design thinking, 17
devices, electronic, as banned from sprint room, 41
Donegan, Janet, 85
Drugge, Mikael, 3
Duncan, Byard, 103, 106, 115
Dunn, Taylor, 229
elevators, robot helpers and, 8–9
email, 221
Slack vs., 220, 221
existing solutions:
in Blue Bottle sprint, 96–97
experts as source of, 71
in Flatiron Health sprint, 98–99, 100–101
inspiration from, 95–96
Lightning Demos and, 96–101
in Savioke sprint, 71, 97–98
unfinished projects and, 71, 97–99
experiments, sprints and, 31
experts, see Ask the Experts
façades, 165–82, 184, 199, 230
in FitStar sprint, 171–74
in Foundation Medicine sprint, 176–77
mindset and, 168–69
in movies, 165–66, 173
in One Medical sprint, 180–82
in Savioke sprint, 178–79
in Slack sprint, 175
time required to build, 166–68
Facebook, 230
Facilitators, 36, 77, 89–91
“Always be capturing” mantra and, 89–90
and asking for permission, 89
and asking obvious questions, 90
Deciders vs., 36, 91
decision fatigue and, 159–60
decisions and, 91
new ideas and, 159–60
prototyping and, 187
and recruiting of test customers, 119–23
in speed critique, 135, 136, 137
team needs and, 90–91
timers and, 46–48
failures, efficient, 222–23
fake brands, in Rumbles, 145
faking it, see façades
Farrokhnia, R. A., 229
feedback, 207
reaction vs., 169–70
finance experts, 34
Fitbit, 171
fitness training, automated, 171–74
FitStar sprint, 171–74, 189, 206
Flatiron Health sprint, 60–64, 76, 85, 88, 100–101, 153, 176, 224
Flickr, 143
focus, sprint process emphasis on, 32
Foundation Medicine sprint, 16, 176–77, 185
FoundationOne, 176
Freeman, James, 21–25, 30, 103
Gebbia, Joe, 210–11
genetic analysis, in cancer treatments, 176
George Mason University, 38
Getting Things Done (Allen), 108–9
Giarusso, Serah, 24, 103
Glitch (video game), 128–29, 143
Gmail, 2, 4
goals, ambitious, 229
goals, long-term, 55–57, 61, 67, 110, 138, 141, 147
dangerous assumptions and, 56–57
in Flatiron Health sprint, 62–63
Goldilocks quality, 170, 207
Gonzalez, Tony, 171–72
Google, 60
experimentation culture of, 1
self-driving car of, 16
Google Earth, 83
Google Forms, 121
Google Hangouts, 3
Google Search, 4
Google Ventures (GV), 4–6, 7, 12, 15, 16, 60, 85, 113, 130, 171, 176, 201, 231
Google X, 4
Grace, Merci, 130, 131, 143–44, 152, 156, 175, 216–17, 221, 222
Graco sprint, 27–28
Green, Bobby, 76, 85, 86
Grijalva, Dave, 171–74
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling), 196, 196n
heat map, in deciding process, 131, 132–35
high stakes, as challenge, 26
honesty, in deciding process, 139–40
hotels, guest satisfaction and, 10, 56
Howard, Ron, 53
How Might We notes, 68, 73–82, 110
in Blue Bottle sprint, 73–74
challenges and, 77–78
in Flatiron Health sprint, 76–78
maps and, 81–82
organizing, 79–80
prioritizing, 80–81
target and, 87
HTML, 184
Hurley, Chad, 6
IdeaPaint, 44
IDEO, 73
illusion, 165–66
see also façades
Incredibles, The (film), 149
Indian Ocean, 84
industrial companies, sprints and, 27–28
Ingram, Alex, 62, 76
interruptions, productivity and, 38–39
Interviewer, 188, 190, 204–5, 217, 225
tips for, 212–15
interviews, 196–200, 201–15
being a good host in, 212
broken questions in, 214–15
context questions in, 202, 205–6
curiosity mindset in, 215
debriefing in, 202, 209–10
detailed tasks in, 202, 208–9
as emotional roller coaster for sprint team, 197
feedback in, 207
in FitStar sprint, 197, 206
in FitStar test, 208
five-act structure of, 202
ideal number of customers for, 197–99
introducing prototypes in, 202, 206–7
in One Medical sprint, 199–200
open-ended vs. leading questions in, 212–13
power of, 210–11
schedule of, 199
in Slack sprint, 217
team observation of, see interviews, learning from
thinking aloud in, 207–8
welcome in, 202, 204–5
“why” questions in, 199–200
interviews, learning from:
in Blue Bottle sprint, 223–24
in Flatiron Health sprint, 224
group note-taking in, 219–21
importance of real-time team observation in, 202–4, 218–19
looking for patterns in, 222
in Savioke sprint, 223
in Slack sprint, 220–21, 223
sprint questions and, 222–23
Invite Media, 60
iPads, 171–73, 178, 189
as banned from sprint room, 41
JavaScript, 184
Keynote, 171, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178, 184–85, 186
Knapp, Jake, 24, 27–28, 30, 47, 48, 60, 62, 76, 77, 85, 107n, 109
Kowitz, Braden, 5, 22, 23–24, 30, 43, 60, 76, 156, 216
Kranz, Gene, 53, 55, 85
Lachapelle, Serge, 3
Lancelotta, Mary Pat, 176
Landauer, Thomas K., 198n
laptops, as banned from sprint room, 41
Lau, Tessa, 11, 12, 178
lean development, 17
learning, see interviews, learning from
Lightning Demos, 96–101, 110
Lord of the Rings, The (Tolkien), 59, 60
Lowe, David, 27
McKinsey & Company, 230
Makers, 187, 188
mapping the problem, 16, 59–67, 110, 230
in Blue Bottle sprint, 23–24, 65, 66
division of labor and, 101–2
experts and, 69–70, 76, 77
in Flatiron Health sprint, 62–63
How Might We notes and, 81–82, 85
in Savioke sprint, 10, 64–65, 66
steps in, 66
as story, 65–66
target and, 84, 85–86
Margolis, Michael, 5, 12, 60, 62, 201–2, 203, 204, 206, 208, 209, 212, 214, 216, 217
Maris, Bill, 4–5
markers, dry-erase, 75
&
nbsp; marketing experts, 34
Maser, Mike, 171–73
“Mathematical Model of the Finding of Usability Problems, A” (Nielsen and Landauer), 198n
mechanics, of product or service, 70–71
Medium, 6
Medium sprint, 224
Meehan, Bryan, 22
meetings, frustrations of, 127–28, 230
Microsoft Word, 186
Mid-Ocean Ridge, 83–84, 87
“Mind Reader, The” (Blue Bottle solution sketch), 104–6, 115
Mission Control, 53–54, 225
momentum, regaining, 26
Move Loot sprint, 113
movies, façades in, 165–66, 173
My Neighbor Totoro (film), 98
NASA, 54
Nest, 16
Newton, Alice, 195–96
Newton, Nigel, 195–96
New York Times, 15, 130, 152, 153, 188
Nielsen, Jakob, 197–98, 198n
no-devices rule, 41, 110
Note-and-Vote, 146–47
note-taking:
on interviews, 219–21
sketching and, 109, 110
see also How Might We notes
Ocean’s Eleven (film), 29–30, 36, 37, 225
office supplies, for sprint rooms, 45
One Medical Group sprint, 180–82, 185–86, 199
opening scene, 188
OstrichCo, 139–40
paper, for sprint rooms, 44
paper coffee filters, 95–96
patterns, in customer reactions to prototypes, 222
permission, Facilitators and, 89
personal trainers, 171
phones, as banned from sprint room, 41
Photoshop, 184
Pitt, Brad, 29, 36
Pixar, 149
plate tectonics, 84
PlayStation, 178
Porter, Josh, 89
Post-It notes, see sticky notes
PowerPoint, 184, 186
previous efforts, see existing solutions
priorities, setting, 54–55
“Priority Inbox” project, 2–3
Procter & Gamble, 73
productivity, interruptions and, 38–39
progress, rapid, from sprint process, 31
prototype mindset, 168–69, 230
prototypes, prototyping, 16, 60, 183–90
actors and scripts in, 186
appearance of reality in, 169–70
Asset Collector in, 188
in Blue Bottle sprint, 25, 28, 104–6
Brochure Façades in, 185
Deciders and, 31, 32
deciding on, see deciding
as disposable, 169
division of labor in, 183, 187
façades and, see façades
Facilitator and, 187