“If you already know what you are doing, you wont do it.” Frank Gehry
Part of the benefit of establishing a short timeframe for a sprint in software development, is that the time sets in motion a constraint for the team to create a boundary for focused effort. This creates a space for prioritizing development activity in a very focused way. It is well-known that sprints also assists in the relative measurement of velocity of the team between sprints.
Regular Feedback and Double Loop Learning
But there are other benefits. Short duration sprints ensure that there is regular feedback. As one of the original creators of Scrum, Jeff Sutherland describes, in his book of the same name, a more evolutionary, adaptive and self-correcting system of software development than its predecessor, waterfall was needed. He writes:
“And so my team embarked on what we called “sprints”. We called them that because the name evoked a quality of intensity. We were going to work all out for a short period of time and then stop to see where we were.” (Sutherland, 2014)
Teams can become more efficient by examining how they can improve their performance during retrospectives. Retrospectives mean double-loop learning, or generative learning, which may involve updating mental models, modification of goals or decision-making in the light of experience. This is particularly relevant when there is a high level of requirements uncertainty or technological complexity.
Encourage Problem Solving Through Prototyping
But depending on the level of requirements uncertainty and innovation, short iterations or sprints can provide a disciplined structure to encourage prototyping and problem solving. The advantage of a multi-disciplinary team providing regular feedback on a rough prototype of software or product cannot be overstated. The sort of inquiry that should result include such questions as:
1. Are we building the right product?
2. Is this what the client wants? Is it suitable?
3. Is it usable?
4. Is it functional?
5. What about its non-functional quality characteristics such as performance?
Prototyping- Build In Order To Think
But sprints, or short iterations leading to early prototyping in product development (not just in software) can also provide a framework for a problem-solving method. Prototyping is an approach to doing in order to think rather than thinking in order to do. This can make visible thought processes and initial intuitions through building multiple concrete prototypes or models of the final product.
Famous Architect Frank Gehry’s Working Method
Frank Gehry is perhaps best known for his iconic architecture including his idiosyncratic design of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Building an extensive number prototypes was his working method which formed the backbone of his design process.
“Disney Hall did not appear to Gehry as a fully developed image, or a single idea. It emerged through a process of little bets through which Gehry and his team worked within constraints to frame and identify thousands of problems….Gehry and his team would, in fact create eighty-two prototypes models, working closely with the planning committee, until they arrived at the final form of the hall.” (Sims, P, 2011)
This philosophy reflects the Design Program at Stanford where the maxim, ‘building is thinking’ is an organizing principle of learning about the design process. Architecture, design and software development are activities that thrive on rapid prototyping to facilitate thinking, feedback and problem solving. Sprints are a way to structure time and create constraints to focus effort and provide a continuous feedback loop which creates an adaptive, self-correcting system. Design prototypes in order to think and solve problems.
References
Sims, Peter, (2011) Little Bets: How breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries: 79
Sutherland, Dr. Jeff, (2014) Scrum: A revolutionary approach to building teams, beating deadlines and boosting productivity: 73
Image By Carol M. Highsmith https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4544231https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry#/media/File:Disney_Concert_Hall_by_Carol_Highsmith_edit2.jpg
robjauer 
