Design Sprint: Use of Design Methods and Technologies

Abstract

This paper analyses the use of design methods and information and communication technology (ICTs) tools in design sprint (DS) activities. Team members, team leaders, and coaches of five international student teams were interviewed (40 interviews in total) regarding their use of design methods and ICT tools during three DS activities: problem definition, conceptual design, and embodiment design. The results show that teams utilise various methods through three approaches: one method for the task, several methods for the task, or adjusting methods. Teams considered several aspects when deciding which method to utilise: the possibility of work distribution, the time needed to execute the method and their prior experience in using the method. The results on using ICT tools suggest that teams mainly use the collaborative whiteboard and Computer-aided design (CAD). In this context, tools that enable continuous sharing of the work in progress (e.g., cloud-based tools) show great potential for DS activities. Finally, the results show a potential to integrate various tools in order to enable easy transition between tasks (e.g., a transition from collaborative whiteboard to CAD modelling).

Analysis of collaborative CAD user actions in design sprint: insights from an educational setting

“…Namely, the observed teams received higher grades despite having larger proportions of Browsing actions compared to lower-graded teams. Moreover, the notable variability in Browsing actions among the teams could be attributed to the organization of CAD activities within design sprints, where teams usually divide themselves into sub-teams (Huić et al, 2023). Furthermore, in terms of CAD actions concerning the action type within the design sprint format, the study found a series of insights that both corroborate and diverge from the existing literature on collaborative CAD usage.…”

“…Furthermore, concerning PBL and CAD usage, particularly in the context of design sprints, there has been limited research on CAD activities. Huić et al (2023) studied four teams engaged in a one-day design sprint focused on CAD virtual prototyping tasks. Despite working in a co-located setting and utilizing collaborative synchronous CAD, the study revealed that teams typically organized themselves into subteams and encountered technical challenges related to large CAD files.…”

“…Data for this research was gathered from the internationally distributed PBL design course, involving four universities along with an industrial partner (Huić et al, 2023). Four virtual student teams (Teams A, B, C and D) were assigned with a design task of developing a personal transportation sidewalk vehicle, guided by design requirements provided by representatives from the industrial partner.…”

“…Design education is gradually experiencing a change with the introduction of short and time-intensive approaches like hackathons and design sprints. They are complementing or even replacing traditional teaching methods (Flus and Hurst, 2021), especially as a part of project-based learning (PBL) (Horton et al, 2018), that design education is mainly based on (Dym et al, 2005), providing students with the opportunity to solve problems in real-world projects (Huić et al, 2023). Design sprints are problemsolving and innovation events but are specifically tailored to a particular organisational context, typically operating on a shorter time scale.…”

“…With a predefined time-based limitation, design sprints offer a dynamic approach to problem-solving (Banfield et al, 2015), reflecting design iterations, where an outcome is expected to be produced within a set timeframe that includes repetitions or cycles (Banfield et al, 2015). The integration of design sprints as active learning tools within PBL approaches has been explored across various domains, including computer programming (Ferreira and Canedo, 2019), UX/UI design, and design and product development (Huić et al, 2023). Despite its increasing popularity, there is a gap in design research regarding the understanding of how design sprints influence design activities within project-based courses.…”