If it’s not on Wikipedia, it doesn’t exist

Or how Design Sprints got the treatment they deserve, just in time.

Design Sprints, the touted design process, is not something that has only changed the way our design team at Five and myself engage in problems on mobile, but it has affected the way a lot of smart people tackle tough issues.

Leaders like GV, thoughtbot, Clearleft and IDEO have paved the road for anyone (and everyone) to use guidelines and implement this process when launching a new product or struggling with features, flows, and experiences in an existing one.

In my continuous research for new case studies, perspectives on the process and real life findings, I realized that there was no Wikipedia page for the topic. I quickly decided to mend this situation — spend some time yesterday evening and launch a Wiki.

Recurring themes when discussing Design Sprint:

1. The concept of Design Sprints is still very new
   Just a small fraction of startups and agencies are practicing Design Sprints. For us in the product bubble, it may seem that everyone is using it, but the reality is quite different. Most of the clients, alongside many designers and engineers I meet at conferences and meetups have never heard about the process.
2. The process is used for every possible problem out there
   Mark Brokerin is performing Design Sprints to help writers produce a book from the ground up in 5 days.
3. It’s mostly used for digital products
   Tile, a product that raised $2.6 million during a Selfstarter campaign to solve the problem of people losing their valuables, used the process to onboard users in the best possible way.
4. Design is, even in 2016, often underappreciated
   We’ve come a long way, but design is still considered just as the outer layer of the product, pure visual aspect, the visual appearance, the appeal. For many people outside of our bubble, design’s role is to make things look pretty. This needs to change.
5. Power to the engineers!
   Engineers need to be a part of the interdisciplinary teams. They need to be invited to collaborate on product ideas and share their insights. The Design sprints allow that. The sketches produced by engineers are some of the most exciting ideas out there.

Here’s what I propose:

Let’s make March 8* International Sprint Day.

For the first International Sprint Day ever, I‘m inviting you (yes, you, the person reading this article) to contribute to the topic on Wikipedia. As you will see, there are many more details that are intentionally left out (and loads of good case studies). Feel free to add anything that is missing on the page.

My hope is that the resources collected will help in establishing Design Sprints as a standard part of everyone’s processes. Not only will they help the organizations to build better products, but should also improve the general perception of design. It should definitely get more designers a seat at the table.

Wikipedia: Design Sprint

The Book Sprint is available as of today. Read it.

Five is a leading mobile design and development agency that’s using Design Sprints to help clients achieve their business goals.

We’re a growing team of 95 that work with the leaders in their respective spaces such as Rosetta Stone, USA TODAY, Farmigo and many others.