AI Design Sprint: Products & Services

The primary goal of an AI Design Sprint is to fast-track AI process or product development, validate ideas, and reduce the risk of failure without building and launching the actual product. Additionally, you can eliminate complex technical jargon and adopt a straightforward, efficient framework designed by experts. This approach is both playful and practical, and no technical expertise is required, just an open mind and a desire to revolutionize your business.

If you want to learn more, we have an article that covers AI Design Sprints in detail.

Based on the principles of the Google Design Sprint, the AI Design Sprint™ workshop format aims to bridge the gap between business and AI technology. Its goal is to improve or transform products or services using artificial intelligence and develop AI solution concepts as a team, in just a few days, without requiring technical knowledge. The AI Sprint combines Design Thinking, Service Systems Design, and Artificial Intelligence.

If you want to transform your products or services using AI, whether you have identified them or not, there are two possible starting points for your AI project.

A: The first option is to use AI Opportunity Mapping, which means looking at the entire product and service portfolio to identify the ones that are most valuable for improvement or transformation with AI.

B: Finally, if the product or service that requires transformation using AI is already clear, we can proceed directly to concept development.

No matter your situation, there is a suitable approach for incorporating AI into your products or services.

In the following paragraphs, we will provide a more detailed description of the potential entry points and the general course of the process.

1. AI Opportunity Mapping

? Entry point A: You might be unsure about where to start implementing AI in your products. As a leading member of the product team, you have a comprehensive understanding of the entire range of products and services. Another possibility is that you are part of an in-house transformation team seeking the next AI project, and you wish to conduct an AI evaluation of the entire product portfolio.

? Our method: The first step is to look at simplified customer journeys of all products and services. Then, the team determines which ones can benefit the most from AI improvements or transformations.

2. Concept Development

?  Entry point B: Together, we have already specified a product or service. Alternatively, you may have come from previous phases where you identified the product or service to transform using AI.

? Our method: The starting points for this process include a pre-defined persona, their needs, and their customer journey, as well as a product map and the company’s value proposition. The team then focuses on developing comprehensive solution concepts for the product, utilizing our AI Cards (or ChatGPT Cards if necessary). Next, the team visualizes and defines the remodeled product, and conducts an ethical evaluation.

Once the concept development phase is complete, we will conduct an assessment together. This assessment is always the final step in the workshop, regardless of where you started. The team responsible for developing the AI solution concept will also evaluate its technical feasibility, as well as its value for the business case.

Yes, there is a difference. The purpose of the AI Design Sprint: Products & Services is to collaboratively develop AI solution concepts and enhance or transform products or services using artificial intelligence, without requiring technical expertise.

In contrast, the Design Sprint by Google is a unique approach for answering crucial business questions by creating a realistic prototype of an idea and testing it with real users.

We conduct AI Design Sprints™ with individual companies or with mixed company and industry clusters. During an initial discussion, we will clarify the specific requirements and collaboratively determine which workshop elements are necessary for you.

Yes, the AI Design Sprint is ideal for challenges in start-ups, medium-sized businesses, or large corporations. All you need is a relevant product or service challenge and an interdisciplinary team.

Unorganized brainstorms tend to favor extroverts over introverts and to place importance on quantity over quality. In summary, they are an unsuitable choice for coming up with necessary solutions.

Below are the main reasons you should opt for the AI Design Sprint approach instead:

✅ In sprints, group and individual tasks can coexist peacefully and effectively. Structured, timed exercises promote a variety of perspectives and developed ideas (with distractions reduced to the barest minimum).

✅ You get a tangible and reproducible problem-solving process that you can use whenever you want to advance your business process automation ideas.

✅ Obtaining authentic feedback from your target users allows you to advocate design based on data and not bias or intuition.

✅ Before investing a lot of time and money, you can secure buy-in from stakeholders right from the start.

✅ As a result, you will get anAI solution that has been prototyped and tested.

1. Working Together Alone (removing personal biases and levelling the playing field)

➡️ The group works in the same room, while each person has time and space to form their own individual ideas and thoughts.

☝️ Why? To equalize different personalities and levels of hierarchy.

2. Tangible (ideas) over Discussion

➡️ Instead of discussing and trying to convince others of our point of view, we let the ideas speak for themselves by writing, sketching or showing examples.

☝️ Why? To avoid different interpretations & misunderstandings.

3. Getting Started over Being Right

➡️ Rather than waiting until we all agree that everything is “perfect”, we make decisions, move forward, and test our hunches quickly.

☝️ Why? To break the cycle of decision paralysis & make some progress!

4. Don’t rely on creativity

➡️ Instead of expecting each person to “feel” creative at the right moment, we use the process to inspire, inform and prepare for idea generation.

☝️ Why? Because creativity is unpredictable.

You may have heard a thousand times that designers started Design Sprints. While that may be true, anyone in any industry can use this method. Anybody who hopes to advance their processes and business can run Design Sprints.

Below you will find an article that discusses the issue, but it focuses on Design Sprints in general rather than AI Design Sprints specifically.

Read on to find out more about the biggest misconception about Design Sprints.

Every company encounters complex situations, significant challenges, or risky circumstances. Teams must make critical decisions and achieve alignment quickly. As facilitation specialists, we are here to provide unbiased and structured support. Utilizing an external facilitator or consultant enables you to prevent potentially explosive situations and effectively manage difficult personalities and emotions within a group.

For more information, please read our comprehensive article on why an external facilitator should run your next Design Sprint.

Organizations and companies often face the challenge of maintaining a rapid pace of innovation while working with distributed teams. Fortunately, a fully remote AI Design Sprint can provide an ideal solution.

With the availability of necessary tools, we guide you through each step using simple tools. This ensures that the remote AI Design Sprint team does not require any specific skills or prior experience with remote work.

Dispersed teams can collaborate to solve problems fast, using a proven process that delivers precise results without using an extra budget for accommodation & traveling, renting a venue, food, etc.

There are even more benefits of running a Remote Design Sprint:

1. Take action now instead of waiting for the perfect time “when the stars align”

2. Easier to organize, even with distributed teams

3. Same quality as in an in-person sprint… if not better!

4. Easier to get busy people in who might otherwise not be able to join

5. Fully digitized – benefits of not having to type everything up

6. No need to organize a workshop room – or having to deal with subpar rooms

7. No need to buy materials – and you never run out

8. Yes, we can work on different time zones without messing your day up

9. Lower stress with fewer variables

10. We can sprint worldwide! No travel costs, no jetlag, no environmental impact

11. Show your team how to collaborate remotely, and that it’s even easier than on location

12. Build a remote collaboration culture

Conclusion: As you can see, there are a lot of benefits to running a Sprint remotely!

AI Sprint teams should consist of 3-6 participants. We need the people responsible for making decisions, your organisation’s experts, preferably with different backgrounds. These can be stakeholders or employees from marketing, design, IT, management, or any other department. Additionally, there will be a AI Design Sprint facilitator and, if necassary, a prototyping expert from our side.

Yes, we provide various workshop formats, including different types of Design Sprints. For example, if your business is not interested in developing AI solution concepts for both existing and new products and services, we offer an AI Design Sprint that specifically focuses on process automation within your company. The result of this workshop is a tested and evaluated AI solution concept, accompanied by a technical brief.

The core of all our workshops involves using exercises from the tried and tested Design Sprint & Design Thinking method, while adapting it to the specific needs of each challenge. For more information, please refer to our service page or contact us directly.

The core of all our workshops uses exercises from tried and tested Design Sprint method while adapting it to the specifics of each challenge. Besides the Design Sprint, we also do offer workshops for brainstorming, ideation, and problem-solving or even for marketing challenges.

We recommend using our workshop methods anytime your team needs to make decisions, solve problems or discuss challenges fast + find quick direction. It will prevent your team from losing focus and replace your open, unstructured discussion with a simple process.

Yes! The time-boxed sprint model has been embraced by countless top designers and consultancies around the globe for unique scenarios. Any situation that demands alteration can truly gain an advantage from a personalized approach. Each organization, including ours, encounters distinctive circumstances such as diverse target audiences, change demands, and opportunities. To tackle these individual situations and guarantee client contentment, we offer bespoke workshops. If you have a particular concern, we are more than capable of crafting a workshop or training program that is precisely tailored to your specific requirements.

Yes, our AI Design Sprint Training empowers you with the most up-to-date version of the AI Design Sprint™ for products and services, utilizing industry-leading facilitation techniques. Drawing from our extensive experience in running AI Design Sprints, we tailor the training package to seamlessly integrate with your organization’s workflow, specifically catering to the unique needs of your team and product. Our training Bootcamp is suitable for challenges encountered in start-ups, medium-sized businesses, or large corporations. All you need is a relevant challenge and an interdisciplinary team.

Martin Backes, a certified expert AI Design Sprint facilitator, will provide comprehensive explanations of each workshop step and generously share his invaluable insights. By the end of this training, you will possess the capabilities to confidently facilitate your AI Sprints, recruit the ideal team, and acquire comprehensive knowledge of testing and prototyping tools.

Maximize efficiency and minimize risk by generating innovative ideas for AI products. Empower your team to take the lead and create the best AI products and services possible.

The AI Design Sprint™ is a framework for conducting AI workshops. It is inspired by the Google Design Sprint and has been further developed by our Danish AI Design Agency Partner, 33A, who has also certified us.