Design Sprint — Understand Phase
How to Use a Problem Statement to Frame Your Design Sprint
Learn the tips and framework needed to ensure your design sprint is a success.
There is a lot of work that needs to happen before your design sprint runs smoothly. The most important of which is to define your Problem Statement for the sprint team.
Problem Statements help everyone understand the purpose of the sprint. They are inspiring, to the point, easy to understand, and most importantly time bound.
Personally I like the below framework:
Action + Output + For User Type + To Solve User Problem + By Deadline
Where each italicized variable is defined as:
Action — is verb that describes what you will be working on during the sprint. Use words like reimagine, design, prototype, etc.
Output — is what you will create during the sprint. For example, will the team reimagine an app, design a web experience, prototype a tablet or something similar.
User Type — is who the output is for. For instance, Millennial Moms, Gen Z College Students, or perhaps New Grads asipring to become Product Managers.
User Problem — is what the output should solve for the User Type. An example might be Lose Weight, Get an Entry Level Job, or Create a Viral Video.
Deadline — is when your organization needs to achieve the Output that solves the User Problem. For example, End of Q2, or a specific date like January 30, 2023.
When you put it all together you will have a Problem Statement like the below:
Reimagine the iOS Wordle Experience For Millennial Moms To Reduce Frustration by January 30, 2023.
As you are writing your Problem Statement, keep in mind that the best statements are
- Foolproof
- Inspiring
- Contain Urgency
I look forward to reading how you use this framework in the comments, or on LinkedIn. Onward.
PS: If you are excited about how you will use this framework please clap this article. To clap for a story or list, click the clap button on the post page. Pro-tip: You can clap up to 50 times per post by holding down the clap button.
