Whenever we start a new project or need to solve a problem at work, we all have ideas. Sometimes those ideas are good, sometimes they are bad, sometimes they are risky, etc.
We all want our ideas to succeed, but how to know if they’ll give us good results or even if they’re worth our efforts and time? That’s the challenge.

I’ve been designing websites and applications for a decade and projects can take 1, 2, 6 months or even a year to see the light of day. So, the idea of testing ideas in just five days sounded really attractive.

Jake Knapp and the Google Ventures team did a great job with this book, presenting a solid alternative to the traditional way of building products, testing ideas and even the way we think about team work.

Here’s how the Sprint process works:

Monday: Set a Target
Where to focus your sprint? where you have the biggest opportunity to do something great and perhaps the greatest risk of failure.

Tuesday: Sketch Ideas
Sketching is the fastest and easier way to transform abstract ideas into concrete solutions. Once your ideas become concrete, they can be critically and fairly evaluated by the rest of the team.

Wednesday: Pick a Solution
In the real world, the creators won’t be there to give sales pitches and clues. In the real world, the ideas will have to stand on their own.

Thursday: Build a Prototype
We’ve found that if you only build a façade, you can get to 90 percent on day one. You want your customers to react naturally and honestly. Their reactions are gold, but their feedback is worth pennies on the dollar.

Friday: Test Your Prototype
There’s this gap between the vision and the customer, to make the two fit, you have to talk to people.

This is a great book and I highly recommend it. Read more at www.thesprintbook.com