Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

An important part of this exercise is rephrasing assumptions and obstacles into questions.

• What questions do we want to answer in this sprint? • To meet our long-term goal, what has to be true? • Imagine we travel into the future and our project failed. What might have caused that?

Lurking beneath every goal are dangerous assumptions. The longer those assumptions remain unexamined, the greater the risk.

“Why are we doing this project? Where do we want to be six months, a year, or even five years from now?”

must be answered. Starting at the end is like being handed the keys to a time machine. If you could jump ahead to the end of your sprint, what questions would be answered? If you went six months or a year further into the future, what would have improved about your business as a result of this project?

The long-term goal is your motivation and your measuring stick.

The common elements? Each map is customer-centric, with a list of key actors on the left. Each map is a story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. And, no matter the business, each map is simple.

Execution can be difficult. What’s the most important place to focus your effort, and how do you start? What will your idea look like in real life?

My best work happened when I had a big challenge and not quite enough time.