Design Sprint

Design Sprint

Design is an important step in new product development. The speed of development directly depends on correctly designed layouts based on ideas. Thus, such techniques as a design sprint or brainstorming are widely used in the IT sphere. Below, let’s consider the concept of a design sprint in more detail. 

Content

1. The Concept of Design Sprint 
2. 6 Design Sprint Steps 
3. Useful Tools for Design Sprints 
4. About DataMix 
5. Our Advantages

A designer is an indispensable employee in every team engaged in new product development. It is due to the great importance of design. A correctly developed website layout or new application draft can significantly simplify and speed up the production process. Thus, the design stage stands as a crucial step that the entire project relies on.

The Concept of Design Sprint

Since the moment when it appeared in 2010 at Google Inc., marketers have widely used a design thinking sprint as an effective tool for creative ideas generation. The method has entered all spheres of development, including IT and the digital world. First, let’s define the answer to the question “what is design sprint”.

The concept of the digital sprint implies solving business problems by conducting the analysis of consumer behavior and creating prototypes. The idea is to quickly coordinate and find working solutions when pressed in time. Design sprints are usually limited in time and take a 5-day period as a rule. Thus, a team of developers has one week to plunge into the problem, study it from all sides, develop worthy solutions, and test them.

Employees use the method in the following cases:

• new product/project release; 
• the goal to cope with many tasks within a limited period; 
• the need to use new research data; 
• find brand new ideas for dead-end situations.

Sticking to design sprints helps businesses to avoid endless discussions and minimize the time spent on long-hour brainstorming.

6 Design Sprint Steps

The process is usually divided into five design sprint steps according to the number of weekdays. But before you get down to the process itself, a preparatory stage is required.

Preparatory Step

Prep work includes recruiting a team of employees, finding a suitable premise, and collecting the needed tools (stationery, a board, laptops, paper, etc.). Make sure to get all you need in one place to be equipped with the required tools for one-week sprint work.

Monday

Monday gives way to a sprint week. The work process starts by defining a long-term goal and challenges to be solved in a week. Further, the team of related employees conducts a series of talks with experts to find answers to the set questions. Here, the focus is on obtaining information from outside sources and drawing a design sprint map with achievable targets for the upcoming week.

Tuesday

Once problems and target sprint plans are set on Monday, Tuesday is left for thinking over possible solutions. Here, every team participant is left on his own to make individual sketches that will be unbiased and grounded. Specialists should activate critical thinking and develop solutions based on a 4-step analysis.

Wednesday

Wednesday morning starts with the analysis of a stack of ideas. By activating critical thinking, all participants weigh solutions and sort out the best ones. This approach allows for saving time and filtering sketches quickly and effectively. Thus, by the afternoon, the group get the best decision to be prototyped.

The second half of the day is left for a design sprint storyboard. Employees create a step-by-step guide for prototype development.

Thursday

Thursday is dedicated to designing the most realistic prototype that will be able to simulate a finished product/service for your customers and successfully pass Friday’s test. All specialists unite their efforts and knowledge to develop the most pleasing product. A sprinting technique diagram helps cope with this task.

Friday

It is high time for testing. Here, participants invite 5 potential customers who are interested in your product. They stand as representatives of your target audience. Users test the prototype. Further, each customer is interviewed one on one; they express their opinions on the prototype. Thus, the team gets a quick and unbiased reaction to its product. Consumers point to its strong and weak points, while the team gets quick answers to what points need to be improved.

Useful Tools for Design Sprints

Design sprint planning requires particular preparation. Here is a checklist of likely needed tools during work:

• markers; 
• a set of stickers; 
• drawing pens; 
• sheets of paper; 
• 1 tape; 
• 1 scissors; 
• 2 boards or a sticker board; 
• 1 set of colored whiteboard markers; 
• laptops; 
• a projector.

Employees usually create and use a sprint diagram, so you should have all the tools to visualize it on digital screens or at least on paper. Keep in mind this checklist at the preparatory stage to avoid being distracted during the workflow.

About DataMix

DataMix is an experienced agency in the sphere of IT development. We embrace a wide range of tasks in the digital world. Our company has implemented projects from different spheres. Our clients are banks, commercial stores, medical institutions, retailers, and manufacturers of various products.

We know how to create high-quality digital solutions for any business. We use modern techniques, including UX design sprints, in the process of new product development. The scope of modern methods allows us to cope with the set goals quickly and effectively.

Our team consists of highly educated skilled IT specialists from different fields. We have business analysts, marketers, software engineers, testers, and managers on our team. All specialists are well-versed in modern technologies, skilled to integrate innovative solutions into new software, and know how to develop the best projects for any business demand.

Our Advantages

Cooperation with DataMix is beneficial due to the following trumps:

1. Our team is a united friendly organism, where all members are dedicated to the common craft and use their knowledge to develop high-quality products for businesses. Our employees have creative minds and produce brand new ideas. 

2. Innovative technologies and tech solutions are applied for new product development. Such tools as a one-week sprint are frequently used to speed up the workflow and simplify the process of solving tasks and finding better ideas. 

3. Cost-effectiveness. We offer cost-effective solutions to any budget. We have diverse packs and tariffs. Every client will find a suitable offer. Moreover, we’re ready to adjust our packs of services for your demands. The cost of our products fully corresponds to their quality. We guarantee that we offer the best solutions at a reasonable price. 

4. Individual approach. Upon contacting our managers, clients are treated individually. Managers listen to their needs, demands, and expectations. Individual consultation is an obligatory step in cooperation. We find out clients’ needs to better understand their expectations and achieve the best results. 

5. A wide database of tools. Due to our wide expertise and knowledge, we develop apps, digital platforms, web products, and all kinds of IT projects.

The design sprint is a helpful technique for IT agencies. It helps simplify and speed up the workflow and find solutions to urgent questions promptly. A design sprint brief scheme consists of a 5-day program, during which experienced employees cope with a series of tasks to create the best prototype.

DataMix is a reliable provider of IT services that widely integrates this technique in the workflow. Our employees frequently stick to this method to activate creative thinking, cope with tasks quicker, and generate working ideas. The design sprint allows us to develop brand new solutions (apps, platforms, projects) for our clients and test them; all duties are done in a week. Thus, we guarantee prompt reaction and efficient time allocation, which results in better productivity and increases clients’ loyalty.