At the beginning of the year, our senior leadership team was going product by product and deciding which ones were worth funding and which ones should have their talent re-assigned. The product I work on from within the Indeed Tokyo tech office rivaled some of the biggest competitors in the market and leveraged a team smaller than most start-ups. Obviously we thought our product was safe from such a massive culling and thought the value of our team was well known within the company. Unfortunately, that was not the case - and our product was now on the chopping block. The senior leadership team asked us to answer 3 questions: prove that there was a user need for this, prove there was a business need, and prove that there is a roadmap and vision worth investing in. With our jobs on the line and a product we believed in, we decided to prove that our product was worth continued investment. There were many tools that we could have chosen to do this, but we decided to use a Google Design Sprint as the cornerstone to our strategy for answering these core questions. Our team undertook coordinating 2 back-to-back sprints that incorporated remote and local participants from marketing, product, customer service, sales, engineering, QA, and UX teams in a truly global effort. In true Indeed fashion, we modified the Google Design Sprint script slightly to fit Indeed's work culture and accommodate local and remote experts. With this session I will identify where we differed from the sprint book, the effort we undertook to coordinate a global sprint, and the lessons we learned about proving value in a product and defining a long-term vision. The session itself follows a dramatic story arc detailing how our jobs were on the line, the challenges our team faced coordinating 2 back-to-back global sprints, and the eventual outcome that paves the way for continued investment in our product and a vision. However, the core concept is that regardless of the outcome of the sprint, we were building a cohesive and cross-functional team that could carry out a product launch from across the org chart successfully. We weren’t just building a product in 5 days - we were building a global team capable of working together to drive a successful product launch.

1. Using a Google Sprint
as a Superpower
Aaron Kovalcsik // Sr UX Designer

2. help them travel
Users:
people with jobs
& money
2005-2015

3. Products:
help them travel
Users:
people with jobs
& money
2005-2015

4. so they can have
money and travel?
2015-now

5. so they can have
money and travel?
Products:
help people get
jobs
2015-now

6. money & travel?
Products:
help people get
jobs
2015-now

7. money & travel?
help people get
jobs
2015-now

11. 2005 2017
a lot
none
some
now
designers
2015

12. 2005
none
a lot
woah!
designers
sprints
2017 now2015

13. small
problem
big problem
lots of timesome time
team cost

14. We help
people
get jobs

16. Job Seekers
needs job
Employers
has jobs

20. Q1, 2017
our team
(very happy)

23. The ultimatum

24. The ultimatum:
1. Prove that there is a user need for this

25. The ultimatum:
1. Prove that there is a user need for this
2. Prove that there is a business case for this

26. The ultimatum:
1. Prove that there is a user need for this
2. Prove that there is a business case for this
3. Prove that there is a road map worth investing in

27. You’re fired.

28. You’re fired.
You’ll get reassigned to other teams.

31. our product helps job seekers & employers

32. The ultimatum:
1. Prove that there is a user need for this
2. Prove that there is a business case for this
3. Prove that there is a road map worth investing in

34. Who has participated in a
Google Venture sprint?

35. “A GV sprint is a 5-day process for
answering critical business questions.
Jake Knapp

36. “The sprint gives you a superpower:
You can fast-forward into the future to see your
finished product and customer reactions, before
making any expensive commitments.
Jake Knapp

37. Today 1 Month 6 Months 1 Year 5 Years

38. ● A global sprint
● Back to back sprints
● The Sprintless Sprint
● The Day Sprint
● The Half Day Sprint
● Mini Sprints
● Mega Sprints
● The 60 minute Sprint

39. A global sprint
● Scheduling was a nightmare
● Managing multiple time zones was nearly impossible

40. Austin
USA
Stamford
USA
New York
USA
Dublin
Ireland
Tokyo
JAPAN
Sunday Monday

41. A global sprint
● Scheduling was a nightmare
● Managing multiple time zones was nearly impossible
● Some key people couldn’t attend physically
. . . but they wanted to attend remotely

42. ● A global sprint
● Back to back sprints
● The Sprintless Sprint
● The Day Sprint
● The Half Day Sprint
● Mini Sprints
● Mega Sprints
● The 60 minute Sprint

43. Two sprints! Wait, why?

44. Back to back sprints
● Double the planning
● Double the preparation
● Double the speakers and attendees

45. very recently...

46. a big
challenge
the
team
failure

47. a big
challenge
the
team
failure

48. a big
challenge
the
team
failure

49. Sprint 1: Companies
Our initial goal was to define a set of features, a new product, or a platform
that companies could use to engage with job seekers.

57. Emulating a product launch
● Marketing wrote marketing strategies
● PR wrote mock press releases and our “first tweet”
● Sales made mock pitch decks for potential companies
● Product, ux, and dev worked on the prototype

59. Sprint 1: Companies
Our initial goal was to define a set of features, a new product, or a platform
that companies could use to engage with job seekers.

60. Sprint 1: Companies
Our initial goal was to define a set of features, a new product, or a platform
that companies could use to engage with job seekers.
“Help companies retain, attract,
and hire great employees.”

61. before

62. before after

63. new product

64. Sprint 2:
● New speakers
● New information
● Same moderators

65. Sprint 2: Job Seekers
Our initial goal was to come up with new features or a new product that would
guide job seekers throughout their career journey.

67. job trigger searching applying interview closing job
Job Seeker Map

68. Low
stress
job trigger searching applying interview closing job
Job Seeker Map

69. High
stress
job trigger searching applying interview closing job
Job Seeker Map

70. High
stress
job trigger searching applying interview closing job
New gradPart time Second career
Mid career
switch
Retirement Summer job Ex-con
DisabilitySecond job Ex-military Gig job
Work from
home
Remote job Freelance
Job Seeker Map

74. a big
challenge
the
team
Sprint 2
Wednesday

75. a big
challenge
the
team
Sprint 2
Wednesday
FAILURE

79. “AHA!”

81. Sprint 2: Job Seekers
Our initial goal was to come up with new features or a new product that would
guide job seekers throughout their career journey.

82. Sprint 2: Job Seekers
Our initial goal was to come up with new features or a new product that would
guide job seekers throughout their career journey.
Help job seekers answer the unknown.

83. homepage before

84. homepage after

85. a tiny BIG win

86. new products!

87. before

88. before after

89. What our team learned...

90. 1. Sprints don’t have
to be by the book.
● We had remote speakers
● We changed the order of activities
● We had over 20 participants on some days
● We didn’t use the egg timers
● We didn’t use a “decider”

91. 2. Sprints don’t
solve everything
But we did end up with a road map
and vision worth investing in.

92. 3. Our sprint wasn’t about
building a product...

93. 3. Our sprint wasn’t about
building a product...
our sprint was about
building a global team.

96. Low on time
High cost
Big problem
back to back (global) sprints
great for building a global team
and driving product vision

97. “take all the time
you need”
“here, have all this
money”
“do whatever is needed
to address the problem”

98. “we don’t have
much time”
“there’s no budget
for this”
“this problem
is too big”

99. small
problem
big problem
lots of timesome time
team cost

100. What Indeed learned
4. Sprints are a useful tool
for product ideation...
…and can be modified for
problem, time, and cost

101. ● A global sprint
● Back to back sprints
● The Sprintless Sprint
● The Day Sprint
● The Half Day Sprint
● Mini Sprints
● Mega Sprints
● The 60 minute Sprint

102. Lots of time
Low cost
Big problem
the sprintless sprint
a behind the scenes sprint
that supercharges your team

103. ● Week 1
○ Email product stakeholders
○ Interview product stakeholders and “experts”
● Week 2
○ Identify the user journey, create the user map, pick a goal
○ Independent designs + prototype
● Week 3
○ Usability testing & final deliverables
The Sprintless Sprint

106. ● A normal sprint
● Back to back sprints
● The Sprintless Sprint
● The Day Sprint
● The Half Day Sprint
● Mini Sprints
● Mega Sprints
● The 60 minute Sprint

107. Low on time
Low cost
Small problem
the one day sprint
the small team superpower

108. 9:00-11:30: Sharing information, research, user map, and a persona
11:30-12:30 Bento boxes!
12:30-15:00 Design ideation
Individual prep … 15 min
Individual design … 30 min
Feedback … 15 min
Individual design … 20 min
Group design … 50 min
15:00-17:00 Design discussions and selection
The Day Sprint

110. before

111. before
after*
similar in concept

112. ● A normal sprint
● Back to back sprints
● The Sprintless Sprint
● The Day Sprint
● The Half Day Sprint
● Mini Sprints
● Mega Sprints
● The 60 minute Sprint

113. The Half Day Sprint
Full day Half day

114. One week
Medium cost
Small - Large
problems
half day sprint
great for solving unexpected
issues within a short time

118. ● A normal sprint
● Back to back sprints
● The Sprintless Sprint
● The Day Sprint
● The Half Day Sprint
● Mini Sprints
● Mega Sprints
● The 60 minute Sprint

119. Low on time
Low cost
Small - Large
problems
mini sprint
a superpower for every team

120. ● Day 1: Define the problem, ask the experts
● Day 2: Make a map, pick a pain point
● Day 3: Sketch, sketch, vote & decide
● Beyond 1: Build the prototype
● Beyond 2: Test and validate
Mini Sprints

121. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Week 1 Week 2

122. before

123. ● A normal sprint
● Back to back sprints
● The Sprintless Sprint
● The Day Sprint
● The Half Day Sprint
● Mini Sprints
● Mega Sprints
● The 60 minute Sprint

124. Lots of time
High cost
Product revolution!
mega sprint
perfect for driving innovation
and big product vision

125. ● Week 1: Discovery and problem definition
● Week 2: Sketch workflows and prioritize features
● Week 3: Detailed screen-by-screen interactions
● Week 4: Prototype for demonstrating the vision
● Beyond: Usability test, product buy-in
Mega Sprints

126. Today 1 Month 6 Months 1 Year 2 Years

127. ● A normal sprint
● Back to back sprints
● The Sprintless Sprint
● The Day Sprint
● The Half Day Sprint
● Mini Sprints
● Mega Sprints
● The 60 minute Sprint

128. Low on time
Low on cost
Small problem
micro sprint
great for brainstorming

129. ● One slide!
○ Project goal
○ Essential insights
○ Essential research
○ Previous ideas
○ One focus area, one persona
● Sketch! Come up with as many solutions as you can
● Vote (get kicked out of room for running over)
60 Minute Micro Sprint

131. Q2, 2018

132. a new challenge

133. Thanks!

134. Thanks!

135. Using a Google Sprint
as a Superpower
Aaron Kovalcsik // Sr UX Designer
aaronk@indeed.com
linkedin.com/in/aaronkovalcsik
(Want to work in Tokyo? We’re hiring…)