09 Feb Scrimmages and Design Sprints

While watching the big game this past Sunday, you know, the Superbowl, I spotted something related to Design Sprints. Not physically spotted during the game. While watching, I thought of all the preparation each team put into this moment. Specifically, the multitude of scrimmages played over the past months.

Scrimmages, or practice games, serve many purposes, one of which is to try out new plays, new tactics. The coaches and players watch videos of the other team playing, getting a sense of what it will take to win. Existing strategies need changing and new plays are devised. They get to see on the field in real-time a new play that simply looked like a good idea on paper. It might be an amazing idea, or it might be a disaster. In all likelihood, it’s fairly good and the scrimmage has shown where it needs some finetuning. A scrimmage is a perfect place to test a new idea before game day.

This is EXACTLY what a Design Sprint does. You have a problem or an idea for something new. You find a solution, flush out that new idea, and then test it. The prototype and user testing phase of a Design Sprint is your scrimmage. The perfect, low risk, space to run the new play.

If running scrimmages in sports is natural and makes sense, why don’t we use this more in running our businesses? I have my theories: fear of failure, command and control corporate cultures, produce or perish mentality.

What do you think? Why don’t we use prototyping and user testing more in aspects of our business?