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Adobe acquires Figma, cue the memes 🤪

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From Photography to NFT Art: Twisted Digital Landscapes with Nate Hill

Still can’t get a UX job? Give up.

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Sticking to UI/UX trends is a losing strategy

<a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/ways-i-ve-experimented-with-design-sprints-to-make-them-more-sustainable">Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots</a> | Kyle Fiedler 
Design Sprints, 
a five-phase process pioneered by 
<a href="https://jakeknapp.com">Jake Knapp</a> 
and <a href="https://www.gv.com">Google Ventures</a>, 
are a great way to get a team working together 
with a shared understanding of a problem, 
coming up with potential solutions, 
and quickly testing those ideas. 
We’ve found the process great for products 
or features that haven’t been validated.
Because of the amount of new knowledge 
and thinking that goes into the sprint, 
they are draining for the entire team. 
As an introvert, 
I find these days working in the same room 
as 3–6 other people especially draining. 
Yet, I’ve found them to be the best tool 
for getting a base level of knowledge for the team, 
getting the client to think about problems 
and not solutions, 
getting a diverse set of minds ideating on one problem, 
and testing risks in a business. 
Since my first few sprints, 
I’ve been working to make them more 
sustainable for my team and me.
We should never be following any process blindly, 
and every sprint should be different. 
We should be adapting the process to 
fit the needs of our team, our clients, 
and the problem that we’re trying to solve. 
That even means during the sprint. 
If we’re halfway through the sprint 
and we think that we don’t need to do more, 
we shouldn’t.
<h2>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#how-that%E2%80%99s-taken-shape-for-me"> 
 How that’s taken shape for me 
 </a> 
</h2>
Here’s a short list of things I’ve done 
to make sure the sprint is sustainable 
for me while I facilitate 
and for everyone participating in the sprint:
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#cut-the-day-short"> 
 Cut the day short 
 </a> 
</h3>
Sprints should be 7 hours max. 
Since I’m more of a morning person, 
I like starting around 9 and ending between 3 – 4 pm. 
This includes the prototype and test days. 
I’ll let the client know before the sprint 
that these are intense days 
and that they’ll be tired as well. 
I set their expectations that 
while we’re not working a typical 8-hour day, 
they’re getting higher quality because of it.
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#be-aware-of-scope-creep"> 
 Be aware of scope creep 
 </a> 
</h3>
One of the ways I would dig myself into a hole 
was planning on prototyping something 
more than I can handle in those 7 hours. 
But the scope creep has a broader impact than that. 
It means we’re talking about more possible ideas 
during the sprint and we’re learning 
and trying to understand more. 
A prototype shouldn’t have to be more 
than a handful of screens. 
I use the problem statement to curate the conversation 
so that we never grow the solution 
to more than I can prototype in a day.
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#understand-what-the-participants-want-to-get-out-of-the-sprint"> 
 Understand what the participants want to get out of the sprint 
 </a> 
</h3>
If they are looking for a prototype to take to get funding, 
I’ll skip bringing in people to 
run interviews on the last day 
and spend two days prototyping. 
If they’re fuzzy on what they’re trying to solve for, 
I’ll conduct more interviews 
and focus more on testing our collective assumptions. 
The best way to figure this out is to ask. 
I start each sprint by asking what success 
looks like to everyone in the room.
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#user-interviews-before-the-sprint"> 
 User interviews before the sprint 
 </a> 
</h3>
These usually take the form of 
<a href="https://jasonevanish.com/2014/04/23/how-to-do-a-jobs-to-be-done-interview/">Jobs-to-be-done switch style interviews</a>. 
These give me some time to learn about the problem space, 
the context people are in, 
and helps me understand the desired outcome 
before we head into the sprint. 
I’ll have the entire team join me in these 
to start to build a collective knowledge base. 
Similar to the interviews at the end of the sprint, 
seeing them firsthand has a bigger impact 
than reading summary or watching a recording.
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#delegate-other-responsibilities"> 
 Delegate other responsibilities 
 </a> 
</h3>
The seemingly small task of note-taking 
turns into a much larger task 
while facilitating the sprint. 
I’ll ask someone in the sprint to 
document our process for me while I’m facilitating. 
This person not only records notes and photos during the sprint 
but also is in charge of adding them to 
our Trello board after our days are done.
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#focus-on-facilitation"> 
 Focus on facilitation 
 </a> 
</h3>
My participation isn’t nearly as meaningful as 
making sure I’m facilitating as well as I can. 
If the design sprint doesn’t have the strong opinions of a designer, 
I’m ok with that. 
I’m seen sprints fail because 
the facilitator wasn’t focused on 
leading the team through the sprint. 
Conversations get drawn out, 
exercises aren’t fully explained, 
people are confused about next steps, 
and the goals of the sprint were’t clearly defined.
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#frequent-breaks"> 
 Frequent breaks 
 </a> 
</h3>
I try to have a 30 minute break in the morning, 
hour break for lunch and 30 minute walk in the afternoon. 
Breaks should be a quiet time 
for people to catch up on other work or go off 
and reenergize. 
Breaks are not meant for more talking about the sprint.
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#expedite-my-preparation"> 
 Expedite my preparation 
 </a> 
</h3>
I’ve prepped enough times to cut down on the time I need to get ready. 
But I do admit that this has 
come with running more than a handful of sprints. 
After your first sprint, 
try to see what you could do better up front 
to set expectations and prepare yourself. 
Instead of reading through all of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/150112174X">Sprint</a> again, 
just use the schedule they have in the back of the book 
or <a href="https://thoughtbot.com/product-design-sprint/guide">our guide</a> 
to refresh your memory. 
Use tools like our <a href="https://trello.com/b/lMmuSlkP/project-template-product-design-sprint">Trello board</a> 
during the sprint and don’t be afraid if 
you need to take a minute to re-read instructions 
during the sprint to get the exercise right.
<h3>
 <a href="https://robots.thoughtbot.com/#hydrate-and-exercise"> 
 Hydrate and exercise 
 </a> 
</h3>
No matter how tired I am, 
I force myself to exercise at the end of the day, 
this could be something as simple as a long walk with my dog. 
After sitting in a room all day you need the exercise. 
I find that this minor thing helps me recharge 
mentally for the next day. 
During the sprint, 
I try to drink a lot of water. 
It’s easy to focus so much on the sprint that I forget to drink. 
I keep a pitcher of water in the middle of the table 
with a few extra cups to make sure everyone else is doing the same.
The caveat with experimenting with the sprint process 
is that they depend on all the variables that go into the sprint. 
What is the problem, who is the team, what time do you have together. 
Some of these experiments, like hydrating, are really low risk 
but others could have a bigger impact on the results of the sprint. 
Be intentional about how you experiment 
with the format and how you implement the changes 
and be aware of any negative impact that 
experiments might have on the success of the sprint.
Have you experimented with different ways 
to make sprints more sustainable for you? 
Let us know on <a href="https://twitter.com/designbottles">Twitter</a> 
what you’ve found successful!
–
Want to learn more about the way we run design sprints at thoughtbot? 
We’re running a workshop in Raleigh-Durham 
in conjunction with American Underground on November 9th. 
<a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-your-sprint-on-leading-a-team-through-a-design-sprint-by-thoughtbot-tickets-38514206027">Join us!</a>

Ways I’ve experimented with Design Sprints to make them more sustainable.

Ways I’ve experimented with Design Sprints to make them more sustainable.

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