Sprint

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

by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Braden Kowitz

4.6(4,566 ratings)

10 min read

Brief overview

This book provides a straightforward, five-day framework to tackle tricky business challenges and quickly test new ideas in action. It shows how assembling a focused team, mapping out a clear plan, prototyping with just enough realism, and interviewing target customers can deliver concrete results. By following its step-by-step process, readers can add structure to their creativity and uncover the best solutions in record time.

Introduction

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by a big project, uncertain where to start, or worried about getting stuck in endless discussions? That’s where this five-day Sprint process steps in. It’s designed to untangle pressing business problems rapidly and effectively.

The idea is simple: clear your schedule for a week, gather the right people so collaboration happens on the spot, and focus on one important question. By planning each day’s activities carefully, you keep momentum high and distractions out.

It originated at Google Ventures, where startups had urgent questions and little time. The process combines insights from business strategy, design thinking, and user research into a single schedule that anyone can follow.

In the pages ahead, we’ll walk through the five-day framework, from mapping the problem and sketching solutions, to prototyping and testing with real customers. You’ll see how each day’s exercises add clarity and confidence, preventing projects from slipping into months of uncertainty.

Why Sprints Work

Most workdays are chaotic: endless meetings, scattered focus, and half-baked ideas. Sprints solve that by limiting the participants, banning devices, and creating a laser-like focus for five days. This intense environment fosters deeper creative work without typical office chaos.

The structured timeline reduces wasted energy. Rather than letting tasks sprawl, each day has a distinct goal. By Friday, everyone sees tangible outcomes. Instead of waiting for “ someday,” the sprint forces critical decisions and immediate feedback from real users.

Teams also bond as they move through each stage together. No more separate silos for engineering, design, and marketing. Every functional expert provides input in real time. Once key decisions are made, you can prototype fearlessly, knowing everyone has agreed on the direction.

The sprint’s power comes from putting just the right people in one room with a fixed deadline—leaving no room for endless debate.

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What is Sprint about?

"Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days" is an essential guide for business teams seeking efficient solutions to pressing challenges. Authors Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, and Braden Kowitz share a powerful five-day framework designed to rapidly address complex issues by focusing efforts on a condensed timetable. Emphasizing a structured approach that aligns creativity with practical outcomes, Sprint provides teams with processes to ideate, create prototypes, and test solutions with real customers to gain meaningful insights swiftly.

This methodology, honed at Google Ventures, combines principles of design thinking, business strategy, and behavioral insights to forge a robust development path. The step-by-step process portrayed in the book encourages teams to focus intensely, break complex problems into manageable parts, and make informed decisions backed by real-world feedback. The ultimate aim is to enable teams to emerge from the sprint with a tested prototype and actionable next steps that can save months of work and resources.

Review of Sprint

Sprint stands out by offering a pragmatic approach to innovation, combining sharp focus with rapid, iterative testing. The key strength lies in its detailed framework, which smartly organizes a five-day process into clearly defined stages: mapping, sketching, deciding, prototyping, and testing. This structure ensures that teams remain laser-focused on solving one significant challenge at a time while gathering critical insights within a week.

The writing style is accessible and straightforward, targeting professionals keen on harnessing their creative potential without getting bogged down in theory. Each chapter is fleshed out with real-world examples and achievable strategies that demystify often daunting challenges. The balance between behavioral theory and practical application ensures it resonates with any professional confronting high-stakes decisions.

Key practical takeaways include assembling a well-rounded team, recognizing the power of rapid prototyping, and valuing customer insights. Designed for anyone from executives to product managers, Sprint empowers readers to shift from indecision to action. This book reframes complex issues as solvable puzzles and is highly recommended for those wanting to leap forward in innovation, whether for startups, corporate settings, or personal ventures.

Who should read Sprint?

Product Managers - Gain structured methodologies to lead product development with clarity.
Innovation Leaders - Discover how to ignite creative problem solving in their teams.
Entrepreneurs - Develop the ability to test ideas quickly and optimize for limited resources.
UX & Design Professionals - Learn how to construct meaningful prototypes and gather genuine user feedback.
Business Strategists - Absorb techniques to streamline decision-making processes and increase efficiency.

About the author

Jake Knapp is a renowned designer who created the Design Sprint process at Google and Google Ventures. He has over 10 years of experience and has coached teams at places like Slack, LEGO, IDEO, and NASA. He is also a guest instructor at MIT and the Harvard Business School. John Zeratsky is a veteran technology designer and keynote speaker with nearly 15 years of experience. He co-founded the venture firm Character in 2021 and has worked with over 200 startups, including Uber, 23andMe, and Nest. He has been published in The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Harvard Business Review, and Wired. Braden Kowitz is a product designer and co-founder of Range. He founded the Google Ventures design team in 2009 and pioneered the role of "design partner" at a venture capital firm. He studied Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon.