
The Sprint Methodology Product Development Exercise
The Sprint Methodology aims to develop the ability to work effectively in teams, under pressure and balancing innovative ideas with market demands. The purpose of this project management exercise is to simulate a real-world product development and marketing scenario, focusing on eco-friendly innovation.
It is designed to improve people’s understanding of the sprint methodology: a structured, time-bound approach that encourages creativity, rapid prototyping, and iteration based on customer feedback.
The materials to carry out this exercise are:
- A detailed summary of the product development challenge
- Access to online resources for market research
- Materials for prototyping (can range from crafting materials for physical products to access to digital design tools for digital products)
- Feedback forms for the testing phase (to simulate customer feedback)
Divide the class into teams of at least three people. Assign each team a specific challenge, for example to develop a new eco-friendly product or devising a digital marketing strategy for a new product launch.
Project examples are included at the end of this exercise for your inspiration. Choose projects based on your specific training needs and your people’s domains.
Ensure each team has access to the necessary resources and materials for their assigned task.
Sprint Methodology Process
The Sprint Methodology is a highly structured process that empowers teams to solve complex problems and test new ideas in a short period, typically within a week. Originally developed at Google Ventures, it has been widely adopted across various industries for product development, innovation, and improvement projects.
The methodology is designed to encourage collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, leading to actionable solutions and insights. Here is a breakdown of the Sprint Methodology phases to include with the exercise to prepare the people:
1. Understand
The first day is dedicated to building a solid understanding of the challenge at hand. The team gathers and shares knowledge on the problem, customer needs and the market landscape. This phase involves mapping out the problem and identifying the focus for the sprint week. It is about creating a common ground for all team members and ensuring that the challenge is well-defined.
2. Diverge (Ideate)
During the diverge phase, team members generate a wide range of ideas independently, exploring all possible solutions to the challenge. This stage encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, free from judgment and constraints. The goal is to come up with as many ideas as possible, which will later be refined and narrowed down.
3. Decide
In the decide phase, the team reviews all the ideas generated during the diverge phase and selects the most promising ones to prototype. This involves critical discussion and decision-making to evaluate the feasibility, impact and innovation of each idea. The team then decides on a clear direction and specific solutions to move forward with.
4.Prototype
The prototype phase is about turning ideas into tangible, testable concepts. Depending on the project, prototypes can range from paper sketches to digital mock-ups or functional prototypes. The key is to create something that can simulate the idea in a way that allows users to interact with it, providing the team with actionable feedback in the next phase.
5. Test
The final day is dedicated to testing the prototypes with real users or stakeholders. This phase is crucial for gathering insights into how the proposed solutions perform in real-world scenarios. Feedback from this phase is invaluable, as it highlights what works, what doesn’t and how the solutions can be improved.
6. Conclusion
The Sprint Methodology concludes with a review of the feedback and learnings from the test phase. The team discusses next steps, which may include further iterations, development or even starting another sprint with a different focus based on the insights gained. This methodology ensures that product development and innovation efforts are user-centred, actionable and driven by real-world feedback, making it an ideal approach for tackling complex challenges in a condensed timeframe.
Time organization
- Explaining the exercise: 10 minutes
- Ideation Phase: 45 minutes
- Prototyping Phase: 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Test and feedback phase: 45 minutes
- Final Presentation: 15 minutes per team
- Group comments: 15 minutes
Discussion
After the exercise, facilitate a discussion with the following questions to encourage reflection and consolidation of learning:
- How did you find the work process within the sprint methodology? Did it improve or hinder your creativity?
- What strategies did your team employ to balance innovation with viability and market demand?
- How have time and resource constraints affected your team’s approach to product development and marketing?
- Reflecting on the feedback received during the testing phase, how would you iterate on your product or strategy if given more time?
- What did you learn about teamwork and collaboration through this exercise?
This report is crucial to translating experiential learning from the exercise into tangible knowledge and skills that can be applied in real-world scenarios.
Project examples
Two proposals to work on in this exercise are described below. You can use these ideas or another that best suits the needs of your team.
Eco-Friendly Travel App
Challenge Description: The travel industry is a major contributor to global carbon emissions, but it also offers opportunities for promoting sustainability. Teams are challenged to design an eco-friendly travel app that helps users plan trips with the lowest environmental impact. This could include features like carbon footprint calculators, recommendations for sustainable accommodations, eco-friendly activities and green travel tips. The app should be user-friendly and provide real value to those looking to travel more sustainably.
Green Mobility Campaign
Challenge Description: With the growing concern over carbon emissions from vehicles, there is a significant push towards green mobility solutions, such as electric vehicles (EVs), bicycles and public transportation. Teams are tasked with creating a digital marketing campaign to promote the adoption of green mobility in a medium-sized city. This includes identifying target audiences, crafting messages that resonate with those audiences and selecting channels for distribution. Teams need to consider the barriers to green mobility adoption in their strategies and how to effectively communicate the benefits.