Solving Problems in 2 Hours: How to Brainstorm and Create Solutions with Two Hour Design Sprints

by Teresa Cain, Bill Staikos (Foreword), John Kille (Contributor)

Do you want to learn how to solve problems in two hours? Do you want to save thousands of dollars and get ahead of competitors by releasing value driven features faster? Solving Problems in 2 Hours How to Brainstorm and Create Solutions with Two Hour Design Sprints is an award-winning New Release and Best Seller in Business Technology Innovation for entrepreneurs, product managers, researchers, designers, startup founders and business professionals who want to accelerate business strategy and innovation with critical problem solving in two hours. Teresa Cain not only provides a detailed approach for how you can solve critical business problems with two hour design sprints using Figma FigJam, she also shares her own insights with 15+ years experience in product and UX on popular concepts including Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things , Tom Wujec’s problem solving sketch concept Draw How to Make Toast in Three Minutes , Nielsen Norman Group’s prediction on UX growth through the year 2050 – to the wide variance of UX budgets at tech organizations, impact of remote work, shift to new a generation of users - from Boomers, Gen X to Millenials, Gen Z, and the impact of ChatGPT to UX and user personas. Many organizations have based their own design thinking process from Stanford's design thinking model or using Google Ventures and Jake Knapp’s five day process from the book How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days . However, five day design sprints have had its challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic including the ability to conduct a remote design sprint using the same process effectively, loss of productive time and the ability to collaborate with multiple stakeholders in one room. The adaptation to two hour design sprints helps organizations increase the frequency and speed of solving small and medium problems whether virtual or in-person, while still using the five day design sprint method to solve larger problems. Teresa Cain spent over three years teaching, testing and implementing this concept at organizations and conferences around the world, including launching the highest rated and best selling Udemy on-demand training course on design sprints, 2 Hour Design Learn how to solve problems and design products in just 2 hours vs. 5 days using Figma FigJam and received a prestigious Emerging Scholar Award in 2023 from the International Conference on Design Principles and Practices, presenting on my research Putting into Practice Evolving Design Thinking Methods at Technology The Evolution to 2 Hour Design Sprints . Two hour design sprints can help teams deliver value driven features to clients faster by simplifying traditional methods. Save your organization thousands of dollars and get ahead of competitors by learning how to brainstorm and create solutions faster for your business.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

184 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 4, 2023

Reviews

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have used the design sprint methodology in my own work as a designer, and I have found it to be an invaluable tool for generating new ideas, testing hypotheses, and building consensus. Cain's book provides clear and concise instructions for planning and executing a highly impactful, cost effective sprint that can be executed in just a few hours. She also backs up her methodology by providing a wealth of insights and advice from her own experience.

If you are looking for a way to improve your team's ability to innovate, I highly recommend Solving Problems in 2 Hours. It is a well-written, practical guide that will help you get the most out of this powerful tool.

[Rebecca G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took the Udemy course from the author and decided to buy the book as well as I enjoyed it. Her writing style is clear and concise, and I love how practical the concept is to apply it right away. I am a product manager with no UX team help and ran my first "two hour design sprint" this week and it went so great and the whole team was excited about the concept we came up with as a solution as am I! I was even surprised my engineers liked it and I think the two hours helped convince them over longer workshops I've done. I plan to try this again! Only complaint I have is I wish there was a workbook to go with the book, but there is an online template so that is super helpful.

[Haley Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this book in a LinkedIn post from someone raving about how they used it at their company and had to try it. This process changed how fast my company can get through items. Before this book, we would schedule events for months out and half my team made excuses not to go. Now even my engineers want to participate! The thing that stands most out in this book is that it's a structured process that has steps I can repeat and complete in just two hours with my team. I cannot recommend this book enough to how much it has changed my life working better with my team!

[Michael Wolcott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flew through it, and not because it was enjoyable. The content was so repetitive. Ironically a 200 page book could have been 20. Most of the content repeated the titles of chapters in the book, included the same photos from the online platform she was marketing, or the reference to her degrees. Overall, very little new information and other books provide much more useful strategies. Save the money and time—avoid it.

[Elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not finish this book for 2 reasons:

1. I'm not working on a project rn that requires solutions like this, and

2. I already have a system that's very similar to the workings of this one(from what I can tell).

The directions are bland to me only bc I've heard it and implemented something similar before.
No complaints really about the book, just not high on my list of things to learn rn.

[That girls friend · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway.

I had no idea what this was about prior to reading, but it was not meant for me. Your in a meeting and want it to only take 2 hours to solve whatever problems you have, but usually the people who love being in meetings take longer a year, a month, a week of meetings. How can you get it to only take 2 hours? By page 56 we still did not know I quit. Sorry.

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this author speak at a conference and was blown away by the thought of the concept. I read the 5-day version by Jake Knapp years ago and found her version to be a fresh take with easy to apply tools to condense down to 2 hours. While I have not tried it yet, I enjoyed the steps in the book and have downloaded the authors FigJam template mentioned and hope to try this week.

[Hannah Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a UX designer this was immediately applicable to my day job, and what has been missing for me personally in trying to get stakeholder buy-in quicker. Definitely recommend for teams already running design sprints.

[Monica Shrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Met Teresa Cain at a book launch party and was inspired to read it after listening to her talk about her experience working with teams and I hope I can recreate the energy she brings to this process to inspire and solution in two hours for my team!

[Christi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Versatile

This book is well written and created with versatility in many areas including technology, product, operations, and finance. I can’t wait to try this with my team.

[Michele Carboni · Rating 1 out of 5]

A waste of paper. No info at all on 2 Hours DS till almost half of the book. Once you get to the 2hours DS it is not massive informative.

Not recommended.

[Natalie Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Useful insights on every page, enjoyed the simplicity in the steps of the process and will be trying out this week with my team for a new feature.

[Robert Luth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took the authors Udemy course and am enjoying the book, compliments the course.

[R M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The material is applicable to my needs and was easy to follow. I highly recommend this book.

[Sarah Buther · Rating 5 out of 5]

What sets this book apart is its pragmatic approach to problem-solving.

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read and love how easily I can apply this to my products!