An essential for anyone building a product. I used to work in an agency where my head of design implement the design sprint paradigm which revolutionised the way design was done. Design sprints are more focused, collaborative and creative. It forces stakeholders to be present where the project is at its crucial point — at the beginning, and thus preventing miscommunication and misdirection of scope. I’ve seen design sprints work to deliver great products, backed by a great and determined design team, the framework does wonders.
By the time the book was published, Google Ventures has already completed a hundred sprints or so for companies of diverse industries and goals. Some of these examples are given in the book as detailed case studies, to the point that you are able to see the work in progress (in sketches and photographs) and the finished results.
The example of the hotel delivery robot, Relay, was an excellent case study of how the team broke down the questions, collaborate their ideas, prototyping and producing an MVP. I do appreciate the visual aspect of the book which supports the content instead of distracting.
The book is essential to product managers, designers and project managers (like me) who sometimes cannot see the forest from the trees, and to force yourself to ask the essential questions. Why, really are we building this product in the first place? Teams often prioritise speed over quality, while asking and validating quality questions actually will drive speed in the long run.
However, while the concepts from this book is illuminating, the book still suffers from the Malcolm Gladwell business book syndrome — there are A TON of clichés here, even though the authors thanked the editors of removing them. While I resolved to read more business and tech focused books this year, I really cannot read the fluff that prop up these business books.
