In this episode of “Productly Speaking”, Teresa Cain shares her insights on her creation of the 2 Hour design sprint. We explore how design thinking benefits product managers and how Teresa’s condensed two-hour design sprints can be an excellent implementation of design thinking. Despite the shorter timeframe, participants can achieve meaningful outcomes by preparing beforehand. Teresa also discusses fostering an inclusive organizational culture, compares two-hour sprints with the traditional five-day format, and highlights the importance of customer empathy. Additionally, she addresses challenges related to remote or hybrid teams and provides strategies for driving alignment. We also discuss the origin of the two-hour design sprint and Teresa’s journey from writer to product manager.
Guest Bio
Teresa Cain is an award-winning entrepreneur, educator, and speaker, and is the bestselling author of Solving Problems in 2 Hours: How to Brainstorm and Create Solutions with Two Hour Design Sprints, whose first edition became an instant hit among tech teams worldwide. With over 16 years’ experience in the field of product management, innovation and UX, she has accelerated roadmap growth and user adoption for dozens of Fortune 100, Fortune 500, and start-up organizations into multi-million-dollar growth.
She is currently the Director of Product Management, User Experience and Design for TreviPay, a leader in global billing and invoicing. She is also the founder of Lucid Startup Consulting, a training firm focused on research, strategy, and vision for product managers, UX teams, businesses and entrepreneurs.
In 2023, Teresa received the prestigious Emerging Scholar Award from the International Conference on Design Principles and Practices including presenting on her research “Putting Into Practice Evolving Design Thinking Methods at Technology Firms: The Evolution To 2 Hour Design Sprints” and was a 2022 Women in IT Summit & Award Series Finalist for Advocate of the Year.
Key Points
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Quotes
“The value of design thinking really allows you to take a step back and think through a problem before you come up with the solution and work through that design.”
Teresa Cain
“When you roll out a process like this, not everyone understands that everyone has the opportunity to bring an idea or a solution to the problem. That is hard for many organizations to understand that everyone has a voice.”
Teresa Cain
