Sprint Book Summary (Product Management Book)
Summary
TLDRThe script from 'Sprint' by Google Ventures partners outlines a five-day process for rapid problem-solving and prototyping. It emphasizes focusing on significant issues, forming a diverse team, and creating prototypes that can be tested quickly. The method includes defining challenges, brainstorming solutions, planning, building, and gathering customer feedback. It encourages starting with the end in mind, using 'how might we' notes to identify opportunities, and learning from similar problems in different industries.
Takeaways
- 🎯 Focus on the most important problems to have the biggest impact.
- 🔍 Prioritize areas where the product meets customers for maximum visibility and revenue opportunities.
- 🚀 Aim for big bold bets rather than small incremental optimizations.
- 🕒 Allocate long, uninterrupted blocks of time, especially for developers.
- 👥 Formulate a Sprint team with a decider and experts from various fields like finance, marketing, and design.
- 📅 A 5-day Sprint is ideal as it creates urgency and allows enough time for prototype creation.
- 📈 Start the Sprint by defining the challenge and choosing a target on Monday.
- 🛠 Develop a step-by-step plan and storyboard for the prototype by Wednesday.
- 🏗️ Create the prototype in less than 7 hours on Thursday, focusing on the user experience.
- 🗣️ Interview customers and observe them using the prototype on Friday to gather insights.
- 📝 Use two big whiteboards to solve problems and start with the end in mind to focus on long-term goals.
- 🧠 Great innovation often builds on existing ideas rather than seeking entirely new concepts.
- 💡 Sketch solutions without aiming for perfection and recruit users to test your prototype.
- 📑 Prototypes can often be created with presentation tools, simulating real software or experiences.
- 🔧 Understand that 85% of problems can be identified from just five customer interviews.
- 🗨️ When interviewing, start with small talk, ask open-ended questions, and avoid yes/no questions to get deeper insights.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the Sprint methodology?
-The main focus of the Sprint methodology is to tackle the most important problems that can have the biggest impact on a project or business, rather than going after low-hanging fruit or easy wins.
Why is it important to prioritize the area where the product meets customers?
-Prioritizing the area where the product meets customers is important because it often has high visibility, revenue opportunity, and is a place where significant impact can be made.
What is the recommended size for a Sprint team?
-A Sprint team should consist of seven or fewer people, including a decider, finance expert, marketing expert, customer expert, tech/logistics expert, and a design expert.
Why is a 5-day Sprint considered ideal?
-A 5-day Sprint is considered ideal because it creates urgency, cuts out unnecessary debate, and provides enough time to create a prototype, while longer Sprints don't necessarily accomplish more due to diminishing returns.
What is the schedule for a 5-day Sprint?
-The schedule for a 5-day Sprint includes defining the challenge and choosing a target on Monday, coming up with solutions on Tuesday, deciding on a solution and developing a plan on Wednesday, creating the prototype on Thursday, and interviewing customers on Friday.
Why is it recommended to use two large whiteboards during a Sprint?
-Using two large whiteboards helps in sorting problems before working on solutions, which encourages thinking about the most efficient way to solve a problem rather than focusing on technology or tactics.
What is the significance of starting a Sprint at the end?
-Starting a Sprint at the end helps in envisioning what needs to be accomplished to reach long-term goals and identifying what must be true to achieve them.
How can the process map help in a Sprint?
-A process map helps in visualizing the steps involved in a product's journey, from the actors on the left to the desired outcome on the right, and identifying areas for improvement.
What is the psychological benefit of using 'how might we' notes?
-Using 'how might we' notes helps in identifying opportunities rather than just listing problems, which encourages a more positive and solution-oriented mindset.
Why is it important to base innovation on existing ideas?
-Basing innovation on existing ideas is important because often the most successful products are improvements or iterations on what already exists, rather than entirely new concepts.
How can a prototype be created quickly and effectively?
-A prototype can be created quickly and effectively by using presentation tools to create a facade of the real experience, which can be done in less than 7 hours and does not require extensive programming or 3D printing.
What is the significance of interviewing customers during a Sprint?
-Interviewing customers during a Sprint is significant because it provides insights into how they interact with the prototype and helps identify areas for improvement.
Why is it suggested to ask 'broken' questions during customer interviews?
-Asking 'broken' questions, such as trailing off mid-sentence, can help extract insights from customers without influencing their thoughts with preconceived ideas.
Outlines
📚 Sprint Methodology Insights
The paragraph discusses the Sprint methodology, a time-bound, five-day process for solving problems and testing ideas quickly. It emphasizes focusing on the most impactful problems rather than easy wins and highlights the importance of the product-customer interface. The ideal Sprint team consists of a decider and experts in finance, marketing, customer relations, tech, logistics, and design. The five-day structure is Monday for defining the challenge, Tuesday for brainstorming solutions, Wednesday for selecting a solution and planning, Thursday for creating a prototype, and Friday for customer interviews. The process encourages starting with problems rather than solutions and visualizing the end goal to work backward. It also suggests mapping processes and using 'how might we' notes to identify opportunities.
🔍 Building on Existing Ideas
This paragraph stresses that great innovation often builds upon existing ideas rather than creating something entirely new. It suggests looking at similar problems in different industries for inspiration and emphasizes the importance of sketching solutions and recruiting users to test prototypes. The text also discusses the misconception that prototypes require extensive programming or 3D printing, arguing that most can be created with presentation tools in under seven hours. An example is given where Slack's CEO used a team to act as bots to simulate the product. The paragraph concludes with advice on conducting customer interviews, suggesting that insights can be gained from as few as five interviews and providing guidelines for the interview process.
🗣️ Customer Interview Techniques
The final paragraph focuses on techniques for conducting customer interviews to gain insights. It advises starting with small talk to make participants comfortable and then gradually moving to more detailed questions. The paragraph discourages yes/no questions in favor of open-ended ones that explore why, what, where, when, and how. A unique tip is given to ask 'broken' questions that trail off to prompt customers to fill in the gaps and provide unguided feedback.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sprint
💡Prototype
💡Decider
💡Customer Expert
💡Design Expert
💡Incremental Optimizations
💡Urgency
💡Whiteboarding
💡Storyboard
💡How Might We
💡Customer Interviews
Highlights
Focus on the most important problems for the greatest impact.
Prioritize areas where your product meets customers for visibility and revenue opportunities.
Pursue big bold bets instead of small incremental optimizations.
Allocate long, uninterrupted blocks of time, especially for developers.
Formulate a Sprint team with a decider and experts from various fields.
A 5-day Sprint is ideal for creating urgency and allowing time for prototype creation.
Monday of the Sprint is for defining the challenge and choosing a target.
Tuesday is for brainstorming solutions.
Wednesday involves deciding on a solution and developing a step-by-step plan.
Thursday is dedicated to creating the prototype in less than 7 hours.
Friday involves interviewing customers and observing their interaction with the prototype.
Use two big whiteboards to solve problems before working on solutions.
Start at the end of the Sprint to envision what needs to be achieved.
Create a map of processes with actors and outcomes to visualize the product's journey.
Gather input from experts on strategy, customer voice, and previous efforts.
Use 'how might we' notes to identify opportunities instead of just listing problems.
Understand that great innovation often builds on existing ideas rather than starting from scratch.
Look to similar problems in different environments for inspiration.
Sketch solutions without aiming for perfection and recruit users for prototype testing.
90% of prototypes can be created with a presentation to simulate real experiences.
Prototypes should be testable in 15 minutes to gather quick insights.
Observing just five people during customer interviews can reveal 85% of the problems.
Start interviews with small talk to warm people up before asking detailed questions.
Ask open-ended questions to gain deeper insights instead of yes or no questions.
Use 'broken questions' to extract insights without influencing the customer's thoughts.
Transcripts
lessons from the book Sprint which was
written by Partners at Google Ventures I
myself worked for a Google Ventures back
startup in Silicon Valley called Rocket
Lawyer this is based on proven methods
from over 100
Sprints as you pursue the Sprints make
sure you go after your most important
problems there's an attraction to go
after the loow hanging fruit or the easy
winds but really you want to focus on
where you can have the biggest impact
and that's with the biggest
problems you also want to prioritize the
area where your product meets customers
so that interface is very important
because there's a lot of visibility
there there's a lot of Revenue
opportunity there it's often where you
can have the biggest impact you also
want to focus on big bold bets instead
of small incremental
optimizations and allow long
uninterrupted blocks of time which are
particularly important for
developers you want to formulate a
Sprint team and this is seven or fewer
people you can have a decider this could
be the CEO product manager head of
design for example and make sure that
whoever is the decider is able to
delegate to someone else if that person
is absent you have a finance expert a
marketing expert customer Expert Tech
Logistics expert and a design
expert one of the central arguments in
this book is that your Sprint should be
5 days shorter is exhausting and doesn't
allow enough time to create a prototype
longer Sprints don't accomplish more so
they're diminishing returns there but a
5-day Sprint is ideal because it creates
urgency cuts out unnecessary debate and
allows enough time for the creation of a
prototype here's what your schedule
could look like with a 5-day Sprint
Monday Define The Challenge and choose a
Target Tuesday come up with Solutions
Wednesday decide on a solution and
develop a step-by-step plan and for your
prototype that plan is going to look
like a storyboard so for example the
user clicks a link they watch an
animated explainer video and then they
have a conversation with chat Bots
Thursday is when you actually create the
Prototype and you're able to do this in
less than 7 hours later I'll explain
that one of the reasons for this is that
prototypes are 90% of the time just
presentations and Friday interview
customers and watch them use the
Prototype the magic and spring happen
when you use two big white whiteboards
to solve
problems you want to sort your problems
before you work on Solutions if you
start with Solutions first you often
think about the technology and the
tactics rather than necessarily thinking
about the most efficient way to solve
the
problem another key perceptual change is
to start at the end of the Sprint so
imagine the end what would be answered
at that point what questions do you want
to answer what would have to be true to
reach your long-term goal so for example
I want to make $5 million what do I need
to do to get there what do I need to do
to increase the user experience and
reduce the amount of time to have a
problem solved imagine you failed what
might have caused that so an example
here let's say you set the goal as more
patients enrolled in Trials then you're
going to have a series of Sprint
questions such as these two can we find
matches fast enough we CL change their
workflows and I'll show how to do this
visually next so what we want to do is
draw a map a map of the processes that
are happening with our product so list
the actors on the left in this case
patient doctor coordinator write the
ending on the right beginning therapy so
that's the outcome that we want and then
we add words and arrows in between so
the patient makes an appointment
appointment to discuss trial enroll and
then begin the therapy the doctor and
the coordinator search for matching
trials and then those people are
enrolled that is your
map we want to get input from experts on
key topics and those key topics are
strategy voice of customer how things
work in previous efforts so previous
efforts is other attempts earlier in the
company when they tried to solve this
problem or related problems and what
worked what didn't there's some
historical knowledge there that should
be
extracted so next we take this map and
we write what we call how might we notes
and there's a psychological benefit here
of sort of seeing where the
opportunities lie instead of just
listing problems we phrase things in
this way how might we use imagery to
tell our story how might we recreate
search on the web how might we help
people realize they can buy coffee
online and then what we do is we take
these notes and we stick them on the map
so I put an example here how might we
review EHR faster and we stick it here
in the process and then last what you do
is you vote on the notes to figure out
okay what are the key how might we
opportunities as we explore these
Sprints we need to understand that great
Innovation is built on existing ideas I
think there's a tendency in product
management and in Business and
Entrepreneurship to come up with oh
something that's brand new that's
totally unique that is groundbreaking
and disruptive but often the most
successful things are just improvements
or iterations on what are already out
there and if we look at the leading
products in the world often that's what
they were they weren't the first they
were just the best or uh the one that
went the broadest and became the most
famous because it fixed perhaps some
critical problems or for perhaps the
timing was just
right look to similar problems in
different environments so that can be a
great place of inspiration to get out of
group things just look at other
Industries for
example do a sketch of your solution
without trying to be
perfect and recruit people to use your
prototype and you can do that with
Craigslist or you can go to specific
associations if you have Niche target
market you can offer $100 to test your
prototype if you're going after
Executives you probably want to go
higher so for example with this $200
Visa gift card I personally often just
use PayPal payments Direct Cash instead
of messing around with Amazon gift cards
Starbucks gift cards but but those work
as
well okay now with prototypes this this
is really interesting because I I think
people think oh they need to spend a lot
of time programming a prototype or or
building something with 3D printing and
those can work but really what you're
trying to do is just create a facade not
the real thing and that can be done in
less than 7 hours and a presentation
Deck with keynote or canva or PowerPoint
can create the Illusion for example Le
of real software or a real experience in
a magazine or whatever industry you're
in you can replicate an experience uh
with something built with a presentation
perhaps it's designed to look like a
video or an interactive slide deck so
for example let's say you're an
automated personal trainer well you
could create that simulated experience
using a presentation and the authors
argue that 90% of prototypes can be
created with a presentation so let's
think of an example of a prototype slack
the concept of using slack in the office
is difficult for office people to
imagine so what the CEO decided was he
wanted to create the idea of a bot team
simulation but programming a series of
bots would take a lot of time and within
only 7 hours you can't really do that so
what they did with the Prototype is they
just got the members of the Sprint to
act as though they were the robots so
they would respond in a robot otic
manner to uh people's questions in the
prototyping stage so you can see you
that you can just hack something
together cu the idea is to get the
insights not to get
Perfection make sure that your prototype
itself can be tested in 15
minutes 3D printing can help if you're
dealing with
hardware and when you're doing customer
interviews there's a certain process you
want to use but before you do that you
need to understand that 85% % of the
problems can be observed from
interviewing just five people so you
don't need to interview 30 people
hundreds of people for example so here's
a general process you would follow you
start with a friendly welcome you ask
General open-ended context questions so
you want to get people in the mindset of
being able to answer your questions
because if you just go straight into the
details they haven't contextualized and
it's going to be very hard for them to
answer and then what you do is you intro
the Prototype then you start asking
detailed uh tasks to get a reaction from
customers using the Prototype and then
you do a quick debrief to get overall
thoughts and Impressions so some general
guidelines here start with small talk to
warm people up so they're less nervous
then get gradually more detailed into
topic specific
questions so for example what kind of
work do you do what do you do to take
care of yourself so this is a segue from
small talk into the area of Fitness for
example if you're trying to prototype
something to do with uh automated
Fitness
training don't ask multiple choice or
yes or no questions because typically
when we're doing interviews or we're
doing prototyping what we're looking for
are insights not kind of binary
quantitative questions uh we want to go
deeper ask why what where when why and
how instead of yes or no and lastly a
trick you can use to get insights is to
ask broken questions so for example just
say so
what is and then kind of Trail off cuz
that silence or that trailing is going
to extract insights from the customer
Without You planting ideas preconceived
ideas into their heads
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