#11: Accelerate complex problem-solving through weekly 4hr sprints

I am going to share with you a way to lead internal projects that accelerates problem solving, especially when you need a cross functional group for decision making and evolution.

Work rarely gets done in meetings.

Let’s be honest. Real work rarely gets done in meetings. The reality for most people I work with is that they are back to back all day in updates, check-ins, 1:1s, and weekly reports and have to find quiet times in the evening to do the critical, complex thinking. There are other reasons why work rarely gets done in meetings:

• meetings are usually too short to dig into anything meaningful
• poor facilitation
• lack of prep work to drive impactful conversations
• missing key individuals or customers for input and feedback

So, we have a meeting to decide on next steps and schedule another meeting. And on and on we go. No wonder why so many of us are burned out!

There is a better way: the 4hr sprint.

Accelerate complex problem-solving through weekly 4hr sprints

Stop meetings. Start 4hr sprints.

A few years ago, I was working with a 100-year-old manufacturing company that wanted to implement a new internal risk management tool. (I promise you it was a lot more exciting in real life than that 1-liner!)

The idea needed buy-in across Sales, Operations, and Customer Success all with limited capacity and who usually work in siloes.

Old way:

1. Create a 50 page presentation with the approach.
2. Go to each VP to sell the idea.
3. Hire a consulting firm or make an argument for new headcount.
4. Wait weeks or months to get started.

New way (what we did):

1. Created a 4hr weekly working session.
2. Went to each VP to ask for exactly 4hrs/week of time from key team members for 3 weeks. Not a minute more.
3. Didn’t hire anybody but activated facilitation skills.
4. Waited 1 week to get started.

Inspired by Google Ventures

This isn’t a new concept. The concept of Sprints was popularized by Google Ventures as a 5-day process to go from problem definition to tested ideas with customers.

I love leading a good 5-day sprint. It’s fun, immersive and intense.

It also is impractical for most day to day teams, which is why I prefer a 4hr weekly sprint cadence.

Benefits of this approach

• Reduces context switching: Stops the mental fatigue of constantly switching between problems and context every 30 min
• Accelerates problem solving: We aren’t waiting for the right meeting or "a workshop" to start evolving the work, we are just starting.
• Increases team connection: The longer work periods allows people to get to know each other, especially who work in separate teams
• Increases productivity: This isn't a meeting. we are doing the work, people!
• Allows for breathing room: Instead of a traditional 5-day sprint that forces ideas in a short period of time, spreading out the work gives space your brain to digest the content from the week before

When to use it

I tend to use this approach when:

1. there is a discrete problem to solve or idea to evolve
2. you need to bring a cross functional team together
3. they have limited time to work on the problem
4. leadership is asking for quick results
5. you have access to customers/stakeholder for feedback
6. the team has facilitation skills to lead the process

How to design a 4hr sprint

Here is a sample agenda:

Hours 1 and 2: Recaps + Active Problem Solving

30 min: Recaps, strategic warmups and time to connect

Why?: Participants are probably coming from another meeting and need time to fully arrive, get their head into the game, remember past context, and focus on what to expect in the next 4 hours.

90 min: Focused time for problem solving. Design flare, explore or focus frameworks depending on your workshop goal

Why?: Without visual frameworks, you are going to lose people and you risk everyone just talking, no action. Simple fill in the blanks and prompting questions can get people into action. This is also the core of connecting your workshop goal to tactical activities

Hour 3: Break + Prep for stakeholder feedback

30 min: Break.

Why?: Because we are humans, not robots. Invite them to spend 5 minutes to make sure there are no fires happening with their other work and encourage a walk, food and hydration. Do the same for yourself.

30 min: Prep for customer/stakeholder feedback

Why? So the team feels just prepared enough with the right questions to ask to evolve the work you just did

Hour 4: Stakeholder Feedback + prep for next week, feedback

30 min: customer/stakeholder feedback.

Why?: Reduce the time from creation to constructive feedback to accelerate the work. Don’t wait for another meeting. Invite them into the mess. Show them the unfinished work to evolve your idea. Also, having customers and stakeholders in the room gives a reason for your team to stay the whole time :).

30 min: Debrief on the feedback and make a plan for the next 4 hr Sprint

Why?: Because teams always love the post-feedback chit chat on what they learned. It creates engagement and excitement for the next working session.

Agenda template I always use

Need help creating and managing your agenda? Here is a free Google Sheet template that I have used for 10+ years to design your next workshop. Feel free to steal it, use it and make it better.

Results from the 100-year-old manufacturing client

We reduced time to market by 75+%.

When we worked in this way, the 100-year-old manufacturing client would normally get a functional tool in front of their internal customers in 12+ weeks.

We did it in 3.

We got the right team, right facilitation and right prototyping mindset to drive action in days and weeks. Not months or years.