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

By Teresa Cain, Bill Staikos and John Kille

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 inno

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lucid Creative Press
• Release date: Jan 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9798987686843

Teresa Cain

Teresa Cain is an award winning entrepreneur, educator, speaker and author. She is the Director of Product Management, User Experience and Design for TreviPay, a global FinTech organization. She is also the founder of Lucid Startup Consulting, a training firm focused on research, strategy, and vision for product managers, UX teams, businesses and entrepreneurs.With over 15 years experience in the field of product management, innovation and design thinking methods, she has accelerated roadmap growth and user adoption for dozens of Fortune 100 and 500 organizations, and start-ups into multi-million dollar growth. Teresa serves on the board for DevStride, a recently funded startup in agile project and portfolio management and strategy, and is on the corporate advisory board for Central Exchange, a nonprofit focused on providing opportunities for women around the globe.Teresa has led workshops and training for hundreds of high profile companies across the globe, and spoken at multiple conferences on product strategy and design thinking methods, including ProductWorld, UXDX, Women in Product, UXPA and DeveloperWeek and as a featured guest on the podcast, Be Customer Led. She has the highest rated course on Udemy for design sprints 2 Hour Design Sprints: Learn How to Design and Execute a Simplified Approach to Solving Problems Faster.Teresa has an Executive Master in Business Administration from Rockhurst University and is finishing a Master of Integrated Innovation for Products & Services at Carnegie Mellon University. She completed two undergraduate degrees, a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Kansas and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the William Allen White School of Journalism, as well an Executive Education program on Product Strategy at Northwestern University.Teresa has completed many certifications during her career in product, customer experience, agile, project management and process management including Pragmatic Marketing Certified III ©, Net Promoter Certified Associate, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Certified Scrum Master, Project Management Professional and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.Teresa was a 2022 Women in IT Summit & Award Series Finalist for Advocate of the Year and received a prestigious Emerging Scholar Award in 2023 from the International Conference on Design Principles and Practices including presenting on her research "Putting Into Practice Evolving Design Thinking Methods at Technology Firms: The Evolution To 2 Hour Design Sprints."

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Fully Revised and Updated Second Edition

Editorial Reviews

This book is great for entrepreneurs, product managers, researchers, designers, startup founders, and business professionals who want to accelerate their problem-solving skills and improve their business strategy! It gives some great tools for solving problems whether you are in person or working remotely, and it provides a different perspective on problem solving.

— Diana Kander, New York Times bestselling author of All in Startup, The Curiosity Muscle, and bestselling new release Go Big or Go Home

"This book provides pragmatic methods to solving business problems within the context of user experience and customer experience (UX and CX), a combination that is not connected often enough. Readers can use this book to solve problems rapidly and build their own design sprints practise by using a repeatable methodology that works in the office and with remote teams!

— Jeff Sheehan, Top 50 Global Thought Leader & Influencer on CX and Business Strategy by Thinkers360 and author of Customer Experience Management Field Manual

Design workshops are a must when generating new product ideas and driving alignment within a larger team. Teresa Cain’s book provides a fresh and more practical take on this classic methodology. By reimagining the design sprint and its role in the creative process, she’s provided a guide for bringing people together in a way that’s more accessible, cost effective, and impactful for any organization.

— Kent Eisenhuth, Design Lead at Google and author of Drawing Product Ideas

Solving Problems in 2 Hours is a blueprint for innovation. It is a quick, approachable, easy to read how-to manual for getting more customer centric and bringing products to market that will gain adoption. This book gives you the inside track to Teresa’s magic for quick application."

— Andy Fromm, Founder, SMG.com, Software Leader in Experience Management (XM) and author of The Curiosity Muscle

The popular book explains Cain’s process behind two hour design sprints and teaches entrepreneurs and business professionals how to critically think and solve problems. It provides concrete examples and gives readers a personal look into the mind of leaders who have executed two hour design sprints.

— Kaitlyn Stossel, Carnegie Mellon Integrated Innovation Institute

Teresa’s approach to two hour design sprints are a great way to solve more problems quickly! It sets everyone up with the right expectations, and enables organizations to better include remote team members, experiment and enable teams to learn more quickly.

— Diana Stepner, Head of Product, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

"A design sprint is a potent problem-solving tool enabling teams to align on strategy, prioritize customer issues, and test solutions, but conventional methods (5-day, 3-day, 2-day) can be costly. Teresa’s revolutionary approach is a laser-focused take tailored for today’s hybrid work mode that makes it less demanding to bring stakeholders together and can be used for ongoing weekly tasks, not just one-off projects, a massive impact!"

— Behrad Mirafshar, CEO and Founder of Bonanza Design GmbH

How to Brainstorm and Create Solutions with Two Hour Design Sprints

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

Second Edition

Copyright © 2023 by Teresa Cain (2023, 2024)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 979-8-9876868-4-3

Published by Lucid Creative Press

Requests to publish work from this book should be sent to: [e-mail]

Foreword: Bill Staikos

Afterword: John Kille

Cover and Interior Design: Kerry Ellis

Graphics: Alesandro Melendez

Editor: Melissa Kearney

https://www.lucidcreativepress.com

To my kids, who inspire me with their creativity and laughter every day.

To my husband who has supported me as my biggest fan and partner on this amazing journey.

To my parents who always encouraged me to be a writer as a child and adult.

Foreword by Bill Staikos

Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that has been widely adopted by organizations, designers, and innovators around the world. It is a human-centered approach that emphasizes empathy, experimentation, and iteration as key elements in the design process. Design thinking has its roots in the design community, but it has been adapted and adopted by many different fields, including business, technology, education, and healthcare.

Design sprints are a specific application of design thinking that originated in the technology industry. Design sprints are typically short, focused, and intensive problem-solving events that are designed to produce rapid prototyping and testing of new ideas and products. The goal of a design sprint is to move quickly from idea to prototype and then to validation, with the aim of reducing the time and risk associated with traditional product development cycles. Some design sprints last for a full week, while others may spread out over a period of several weeks. Regardless of the format, design sprints follow a structured process that includes problem definition, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration.

The popularity of a design sprint can be attributed to its ability to bring teams together to focus on a specific problem and quickly produce tangible outcomes. Design sprints are seen as a way to overcome traditional roadblocks in the design process, such as lengthy approval processes, lack of collaboration, and resistance to change. The evolution of design thinking into design sprints represents a shift toward a more agile and efficient approach to problem-solving and innovation. By incorporating design thinking principles and applying them to the rapid prototyping of new ideas, design sprints offer a new way to bring together diverse perspectives and quickly test and validate new solutions.

The consistent pressure to develop new products and services, solve customer and business problems quickly, and meet the ever-evolving needs of consumers are just some of the reasons why design sprints have become critical business tools. The pandemic only seems to have exacerbated this, where a company’s need to remain competitive and relevant often means turning ideas into tangible outcomes in the shortest time possible.

The Importance of Design Sprints

My professional background includes leading Customer Experience teams at some of the biggest brands in financial services. My teams used design sprints as a framework to help our business partners and stakeholders achieve their goals by providing a structured approach to problem-solving, and, in some cases, product development. They allowed our teams to rapidly prototype and test ideas, reducing the risk associated with launching a new product or service. By prototyping and testing early, teams could identify potential roadblocks and make course corrections before it was too late. This led to more efficient use of resources and ultimately accelerated our return on investment.

Design sprints also fostered collaboration and encouraged cross-functional teams to work together. By bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders through the design sprint process, we ensured that everyone was aligned on the problem for which we were solving and the solution being proposed. This led to faster, better decision-making, it created an environment for greater innovation, and a working environment defined by efficacy.

When our teams were leading design sprints, we delivered a structured approach to problem-solving. The five day process we consistently followed provided a clear roadmap for teams to follow, and the structured activities ensured that all aspects of the problems we were focused on were thoroughly explored. This led our organization to deliver more informed decisions, and a greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with a particular project. If the solution meant a less optimal outcome for the business, but right for the customer or employee, at least we approached the final solution eyes wide open.

Finally, because design sprints are flexible and adaptable tools, the teams I have led and been part of have been able to apply the design sprint framework to a wide range of problems and projects. The toolkit also allowed us to customize it to suit the specific needs of any organization given its flexibility. This meant that design sprints would be used to solve complex problems across a variety of functions – from technology and product, to operations and finance.

Design Sprints in Action

Imagine a team of mortgage professionals in a large industry that was tasked with finding ways to better serve the needs of underserved borrowers. This was the team I was part of in early 2020. After conducting market research and speaking with potential homeowners, the team realized that these future home buyers were in need of a more streamlined and efficient way to manage savings for their home and improve their finances. The research also showed the importance of specific partners in the process.

To address this problem faced by thousands of potential homeowners around the country, the team decided to use a design sprint to create a new product that would help these underserved borrowers better manage their finances through an app-based solution. Over the course of five days, the team worked through a series of structured activities, including brainstorming sessions, prototyping, and user testing.

At the end of the design sprint, the team had created a working prototype of a financial management tool specifically designed for the personas for whom they were building a solution. The tool allowed these borrowers to easily track progress against savings, monitor their credit score, and generate reports they could use with third-party providers like mortgage counselors. In addition, their counselors also would be able to see their progress whereby they could prepare more effectively for meetings with their clients. The team presented the prototype to a group of potential homeowners, who provided valuable feedback and suggestions for improvement. With this feedback in hand, the team was able to refine and improve the product before launching it more broadly. It was the first time the company employed this methodology.

The design sprint was a success, and the new financial management and savings app quickly became popular among underserved borrowers. The tool not only helped them better manage their finances, but it also helped counselors better serve this important customer segment, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Benefits We Can Achieve Through Design Sprints

Perhaps the most significant benefit of