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

by Jake Knapp

If Mission Control had worried about the air filter first, they would have missed their window to fix the trajectory, and the Apollo 13 spaceship might have careened off toward Pluto.I Instead, NASA got organized and sorted their priorities before they started on solutions.

Slowing down might be frustrating for a moment, but the satisfaction and confidence of a clear goal will last all week.

But turning these potential problems into questions makes them easier to track—and easier to answer with sketches, prototypes, and tests. It also creates a subtle shift from uncertainty (which is uncomfortable) to curiosity (which is exciting).

At WalrusCo, the CEO was certain we had covered everything. But Wendy changed almost every part of our map. Now, before you start thinking that WalrusCo’s CEO was a goofball, we should explain that the map was accurate before Wendy came in. It was just more accurate afterward. Wendy put the basic facts into a real customer’s context.

After interviewing the experts and organizing your notes, the most important part of your project should jump right out of your map, almost like a crack in the earth.

That was an imaginary scenario, but it’s the sort of thing that happens when people make decisions about abstract ideas. Because abstract ideas lack concrete detail, it’s easy for them to be undervalued (like your idea) or overvalued (like the boss’s idea).