From Sprint to Jog

Pragmatic approach to a design sprint

We helped a team to determine where their key priorities for a replacement solution to manage conflicts of interests between work engagements, while balancing perspective from both management and those involved in the the engagement

Here are a few of the specific challenges we had to negotiate

Limited input from Key stakeholders

The Challenge

The technology platform for the replacement solution had already been selected

The product owner could only provide us with limited availability

Here is a summary of our planned approach

Sprint Activities Included

Defining the problem

Our approach

We decided on a pseudo-design sprint, due to the availability constraints, with the traditional four day sprint being extended to a three-week period to ensure that all key activities were completed without sacrificing engagement

Clarifying the constraints and need of the initiative teams

Exploring the solutions

Ideating ways to streamline adherence to the initiative teams constraints while reducing conflicts between initiatives

Rapid prototyping

A prototype was created in days using various applications to simulate a potential solution

User validation

Real users interacted with the prototype providing critical feedback to determine its effectiveness

The Outcome

The team agreed that the top priority was ensuring initiative teams stayed within defined constraints. Following the prototype’s approval, funding was secured to build the initial solutions. Interest soon grew beyond the immediate group, with other teams facing similar challenges expressing a desire to explore the solution for potential adoption.

Taking a pragmatic approach ensured there was no detriment to the end result