The four steps

Among other things, Sidse discovered that the sprint format did not always harmonize with the needs of the company. She found that the suitability of the sprint process was more or less pegged to the degree in which a particular task was narrow or broad.

In the case of very well-defined issues, companies were often frustrated by the need to go through the initial, more exploratory stages of the process. “They had to ask themselves if this is what they really wanted even in cases when they were already quite sure,” Sidse explains. On the other hand, there were also companies facing highly complex issues who felt that the sprint moved at too quick a pace.

“Sometimes very complex tasks end up being trimmed down in order to fit the format,” says Sidse.

Based on her research, Sidse has developed a so-called task ladder which differentiates between four different task levels. The task ladder looks at how open or closed a particular task is at the beginning and to what extent it must be rejigged or curtailed by the design agencies involved. Between steps zero and three, the task ladder helps to define how clear the companies are in relation to their problems and how far along they have come in their handling of the problem.

Burning platforms light the way

“In its original form, the sprint is best suited to tasks which are more toward the narrow end of the scale,” says Sidse. In a situation such as a global pandemic, the sprint method is, therefore, a suitable tool for helping companies to come out successfully on the other side. “Once the platform starts to burn, it suddenly becomes very clear where the fire is. But this does not mean that the solution is simple. Just that companies have a better idea as to where they should direct their efforts.”

Going forward, Sidse sees great potential in looking more closely at the broader side of the scale and those tasks which are less well defined. “The whole process is about identifying what mechanisms we have to create new things and what circumstances are in place that might influence them, and that is something which I think is well worth mapping out and taking stock of,” she says.

If research projects are to generate the greatest possible value for companies going forward, however, then Sidse believes that a somewhat different approach is needed.

“Scoping often falls outside the actual work itself. If research is to help generate value for companies, then it also needs to be incorporated from the very beginning so that the research design becomes a part of the actual project formulation,” she says.

This makes it possible to ask the right questions and simultaneously to map out what exactly design thinking can achieve. According to Sidse, it is about mapping out “what it actually is that we do with design which creates a new idea that can then go on to develop within a company.”

“This is where the change actually happens, and where the sparks begin that ultimately make things become truly interesting,” Sidse Ansbjerg Bordal concludes.