How to Build A Scalable Prototype Of Your Startup’s Idea In Days

Would you like to build a better prototype of your startup’s idea before taking the next step,then check out Google ventures’ way of achieving that.The Design Sprint is a five-day process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers.

Companies like Nest, Foundation Medicine, and Blue Bottle Coffee have used them to answer questions about the fundamental viability of new businesses, to make the first version of new mobile apps, to develop new features for existing products with millions of users, to define marketing strategies, to design reports for medical tests, to create the personality of a hotel delivery robot etc.

The Sprint comes with a book which will be available later.The book contains dozens of behind-the-scenes stories, including Blue Bottle Coffee, Savioke, and Medium. It shows how sprints can fit into virtually any company. And it also provides a detailed step-by-step guide to running your own sprint that goes way beyond our existing articles.

Before the book is available, you can run your own sprint with their basic how-to guide.

SET THE STAGE

Let’s look at what happens before a sprint. You’ll need to choose a big problem, gather your team, clear your calendars, and gather some essential supplies. And you’ll need a deadline. Schedule a user study before you start the sprint — it can be scary, but good deadlines are an essential part of every sprint.

MONDAY:UNPACK

On the first day of the sprint, your team will “unpack” everything they know. Expertise and knowledge on most teams is asymmetrical: Sales knows things engineering doesn’t, customer support knows things design doesn’t, and so on. We’ll explain how to draw insights from the team together, create a simple user story, set the scope for the week, and take useful notes as a team.

TUESDAY:SKETCH

During Sketch day, your team will work individually to draw detailed solutions on paper. As you sketch, everyone works separately to ensure maximum detail and depth with minimum groupthink. By breaking it down into four discrete steps (Notes, Mind Map, Crazy 8s, and Storyboard), we show you how CEOs, engineers, and sales folk alike can contribute their ideas effectively. After sketching, you’ll use a structured critique and weighted voting to select the best ideas from the field of possibilities.

WEDNESDAY:DECIDE

By Wednesday, you’ll have over a dozen solutions to choose from. That’s great, but it’s also a problem, because you can’t prototype and test a dozen solutions. You’ll have to narrow down and make tough decisions. To prepare for Thursday, you’ll draw a storyboard, which serves as a blueprint of your forthcoming prototype. Meanwhile, it’s time to select research participants and get to work planning Friday’s interviews.

THURSDAY:PROTOTYPING

You’ll spend Thursday in the flow, being ridiculously productive. We show you our systematic plan for doing the impossible: build an entire realistic-looking prototype in just eight hours. Like George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven, you’ll gather a team of experts, assign roles, and put your plan into motion. And just like in the movie (sorry, spoiler alert), you’ll get the job done and still have time to enjoy your evening.

FRIDAY:TEST

On Friday, you’ll show your prototype to real customers in 1-on-1 interviews. We show you how to make sense of what you observe, taking notes as a team and finding patterns in real time. By the end of the day, your ideas have all been exposed to oxygen — some will be smash hits, while others will meet an early end.

Obviously, when a risky idea succeeds, it’s a fantastic payoff. But it’s actually those epic failures which, while painful to watch, provide the greatest return on investment. When a prototype flops, it means we’ve spotted critical flaws after only five days of work. It’s learning the hard way — without the “hard way.”