Google SPRINT | 5 days plan to make your product better than ever (Ⅱ)
Tuesday — sketch competing solutions on paper
After a full day of understanding the problem and choosing a target for your sprint, on Tuesday, you get to focus on solutions. The day starts with inspiration: a review of existing ideas to remix and improve. Then, in the afternoon, each person will sketch, following a four-step process that emphasizes critical thinking over artistry. You’ll also begin planning Friday’s customer test by recruiting customers that fit your target profile.
The Four-Step Sketch
Briefly explain the four steps. Everyone sketches. When you’re done, place the sketches in a pile and save them for tomorrow.
✔ Notes: Twenty minutes. Silently walk around the room and gather notes.
✔ Ideas: Twenty minutes. Privately jot down some rough ideas. Circle the most promising ones
✔ Crazy 8s: Eight minutes. Fold a sheet of paper to create eight frames. Sketch a variation of one of your best ideas in each frame. Spend one minute per sketch.
✔ Solution sketch: Thirty to ninety minutes. Create a three-panel storyboard by sketching in three sticky notes on a sheet of paper. Make it self-explanatory. Keep it anonymous. Ugly is okay. Words matter. Give it a catchy title.
The key point of Sketch
Creating a Sketch is easy, but creating a useful sketch, still needs some technical. These are some key points that you should follow up on to make your team discussion smoothly.
✔ Self-explanatory: when you stick your sketch on the wall, it should be understood without explanation
✔ Share with Anonymous: when you and your team members share their sketch, it should be anonymous and evaluated directly without guessing which sketch is created by someone.
✔ Don’t be afraid your sketch is ugly: specific, thoughtful, and complete are the most important part of your sketch.
✔ Word is important: It is important to choose the right word in your sketch, do not draw some “wave line” to show that here is the important part.
✔ Make an attractive name for your sketch: catch others’ eyes on your sketch and enlarge their curiosity about your concept.
Recruit Customers for Friday’s Test
Though testing will hold on Friday, it takes you two to three days to communicate with the testing user, therefore you should recruit them right now. Here’s some advice for you to recruit them:
✔ Put someone in charge of recruiting. It will take an extra one or two hours of work each day during the sprint.
✔ Recruit on Craigslist. Post a generic ad that will appeal to a wide audience. Offer compensation (maybe NTD $500). Link to the screener survey.
✔ Write a screener survey. Ask questions that will help you identify your target customers, but don’t reveal who you’re looking for.
✔ Recruit customers through your network. If you need experts or existing customers, use your network to find customers.
✔ Follow up with email and phone calls. Throughout the week, make contact with each customer to make sure he or she shows up on Friday.
Wednesday — make difficult decisions and turn your ideas into a testable hypothesis
After Tuesday’s workout, your team must generate lots of sketches for your prototype, but we can’t test all of them, therefore decide which ones have the best chance of achieving your long-term goal are your first mission, next, you’ll take the winning scenes from your sketches and weave them into a storyboard: a step-by-step plan for your prototype.
Process of examining the sketch
✔ Watch the sketch as an Artwork: what will you do when you’re in an art museum? Be quiet and focus on the artwork, you should tape the solution sketches to the wall in one long row, making your team member focus on it.
✔ Stick two to three stickers on the sketch which you have interested in: not for the whole sketch, you can choose the part of the sketch which process or definition you have interested in.
✔ Write down some notes for your concern: if you have any concerns about the sketch, do not hesitate, write down your concerns on the note, and stick them under the sketch.
After these steps, you may generate lots of feedback on your sketch, and it’s time for you to make a consensus on which sketch has the best chance of achieving your long-term goal. Before it started, all sprint members should get together in front of a sketch, and the promoter makes a three minutes timing for every quick evaluation.
Process of quick evaluation
✔ Sketch creator should be quiet: before promoter is invited, sketch creator should be quiet and listening.
✔ promoter depict the sketch: according to the information on the sketch, shared with all members.
✔ Shout the outstanding point: When the promoter depicts the process which has some stickers nearby, the promoter should shout it loudly, the writer needs to write down this outstanding point on the note, give it a sample name, and stick it on the top of the sketch.
✔ Sketch creator shares his/her opinion: invite sketch creator to share his/her opinion which team members lost, and answer concern notes.
✔ Keep going: move on to the next sketch, and repeat these steps again to ensure all team members fully understand every sketch.
When every sketch introduction is completed, team members should vote on which sketch they want for the prototype, after voting, the decision-maker should vote its super vote to decide which sketch is the best. The decision-maker should vote with his/her heart honestly, because he/she should take the risk for the result, therefore it’s important to choose what he/she loves.
Process of making a storyboard
Now, when deciding which sketch you will be using for the prototype, it’s time to draw a storyboard! this will help you to design the process that your customer interacts with your service or products.
✔ Draw a grid: about fifteen squares on a whiteboard
✔ Choose an opening scene: think of how customers normally encounter your product or service. Keep your opening scene simple: web search, magazine article, store shelf, etc.
✔ Fill out the storyboard: move existing sketches to the storyboard when you can. Draw when you can’t, but don’t write together. Include just enough detail to help the team prototype on Thursday. When in doubt, take risks. The finished story should be five to fifteen steps.
Congrats! you have really done a great job, keep fighting, and after Thursday and Friday, you must be surprised how much insight this sprint brings to you, see you in the next Medium!
