Notes from the book “Sprint” by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky adn Braden Kowitz that can be applied to the Midnight Sun workflow.
See website for more info and tips, as well as the page on Remote Design Sprints.
Design Sprint: A process for prototyping and testing ideas to acheive valuable results in a short period of time, ideally within 5 days.
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The goal of a sprint is not to find solutions to every problem, only the important ones.
Before the Sprint
Choose a big challenge. Sprints work best when stakes are high, time is tight or when you are stuck on a problem.
Althougth the ideal time frame is 5 days, theoretically the process can be condensed even further to possibly a 5-hour frame for smaller problems (my thought, not from the book).
A full 5 day sprint is practically impossible to run during the term with people on co-op and school.
Recruit a diverse team. The book says 7 people max consisting of the relevant stakeholders.
Facilitator: Someone who manages time, conversations and overall progress. Must be confident leading a meeting and knowing when to move on.
Decider: 1 or 2 people who make the final decisions. Either a critical DRI or Lead involved with the project
Experts: A good opportunity to rope in team alumni, profs or people in industry. May not be able to stay for the whole sprint so prepare questions for them beforehand.
Ideal to have the rest from the different subteams involved and even 1 or 2 who not familiar with the project to provide outside opinions.