Design Sprint versus Design Thinking: A comparative analysis

Abstract

Context: Design Sprint (DS) is a new design methodology for designing new products that resembles Design Thinking (DT) in designing solutions that diverge and focus on the problem and solution fields, to be then tested in prototypes. Yet it differs from DT by incorporating Lean Startup concepts such as agility and elimination of costly or low-value activities. Although it gained increased interest in the organizational world, it is still unexplored in the literature, without an analysis of best practices, and how this process may be more appropriate than traditional DT processes. Objective: In spite of the improvements proposed by the design community to the original process, this study aims to perform a comparative analysis of the DS process, as prescribed in the book that originated the methodology, against traditional DT processes, considering its phases and techniques , and what the advantages and disadvantages of each methodology are. Method: The research used the methodological approach of multiple case study by evaluating three DS processes in a company that executes processes with both methodologies. In addition to observing the processes and documenting the decisions made, six interviews were conducted with company partners and experts from the area, who participated in the processes. Results: The article describes the execution of DS processes in detail and then summarizes the advantages of these processes against DT processes, such as: low experimentation barrier, alignment with high management for continuing the work, orientation to incremental innovations. Nevertheless, the coexistence of the two methodologies is proposed, such that DS can be more efficient when used as an initial stage of requirements of new products, while DT proves to be more useful as a methodology for generating new ideas. Conclusion: The research on theoretical and practical contributions by investigating a topic not yet explored in the literature, positioning positive and negative aspects of DS in relation to other more established design methodology (DT), and suggesting how these methodologies can be applied more efficiently to creating new products and services.

A comparative study between design thinking, agile, and design sprint methodologies

“…Small team sizes are peculiar to all three approaches. The design sprint approach recommends recruiting multidisciplinary teams of seven or fewer people with specialist expertise in finance, marketing, customer support, technology and design, alongside a facilitator and a decision-maker (Knapp et al, 2016;Correio and Fleury, 2019). Similarly, design thinking also encourages team-based idea creation with multidisciplinary/cross-functional teams comprising three to four people, promoting a diversity of age, nationality, education, profession, and cultural background (Foster, 2019;Vukosav, 2020).…”

“…As a result, it might not be ready for deployment at the stage of deciding ideas, and benchmarking is unexplored, thus limiting the possibility of creating ideas that are outside of the box. Also, it is challenging to validate prototypes in less than a day (Correio and Fleury, 2019).…”

“…Validating prototypes in less than a day is complex, and benchmarking is unexplored (Correio and Fleury, 2019).…”

“…On the other hand, design sprint might have an issue with the prototype since prototyping it in less than a day can be challenging. Moreover, since benchmarking is unexplored, it will limit the imagination to create something new to be better than other similar products (Correio and Fleury, 2019).…”

Design Sprint: Use of Design Methods and Technologies

“…Design education is mainly based on project-based courses (Dym et al, 2005) that provide students with the opportunity to solve problems in real-world projects. In this context, working in time-bounded but intense activities is becoming more and more common (Goudswaard et al, 2022), as they help the team stay focused and motivated in a short timeframe (Baraças Figueiredo Correio and Leme Fleury, 2019). Therefore, time-bounded intensive design work is of great importance for project-based courses.…”