The Design Sprint very much met our expectations. It gave us the clarity we needed to make the right business decision. We also ended up being able to better prioritize our development work as a result of the Design Sprint. There is no point developing an idea for the sake of it.
“The Design Sprint very much met our expectations. It gave us the clarity we needed to make the right business decision. We also ended up being able to better prioritize our development work as a result of the Design Sprint. There's no point developing an idea for the sake of it or risking an end result that our customer isn’t willing to pay for.” - Elisa Kauria, Services Development Manager and Team Lead at Viestilehdet.
The brief
Viestilehdet Ltd is Finland’s leading publisher and producer of agricultural content. The media house has three main publications:
- a newspaper called Maaseudun Tulevaisuus;
- a magazine called Koneviesti, for professionals working in agriculture and forestry;
- and Aarre, a magazine about forestry and nature.
As a publisher, Viestilehdet seeks to create digital services that put the customer first. A rapid-fire and customer-centric Design Sprint looked like the best method for refining a new concept and testing it out. Viestilehdet wanted a Design Sprint facilitated by professionals so that their own experts could focus their energy on the concept itself.
“Eficode was naturally our first choice for running a Design Sprint. We’ve happily used Eficode as a design partner for quite some time already. We trust them because of their solid track record and because they've always kept us at the center of any design project we've worked on together,” tells Elisa Kauria, the Services Development Manager and Team Lead at Viestilehdet.
Come along by leaps and bounds in a week-long dash
A Design Sprint is an effective, all-encompassing, and customer-centered way to develop a new service. Ideas are tested on real users thanks to prototypes, which minimizes the potential risk of a new business idea.
Typically, well facilitated Design Sprints kick-start good ideas in a week-long dash and test them out in a cost-effective way. Over the course of five days, you’ll finish the equivalent of months worth of fragmented work crammed into business as usual.
The Viestilehdet team had Eficode’s workshop rooms at their disposal. The space allowed all the ideas and creations to be on display as the sprint progressed. This format helped everyone stay on the same page and focus on the task at hand. The purpose-built workshop spaces were the calm backdrop needed to keep up momentum and finetune focus.
Eficode facilitated and documented the Design Sprint for Viestilehdet. What’s more, Eficode’s specialists built the prototype of the concept, which Viestilehdet got to review before the user tests took place.
The Design Sprint culminated in user tests which took place at Eficode’s UX Studio situated right next to the workshop space. Five potential customers were invited to evaluate the service and give their thoughts on it.
“The Design Sprint was a positive and rewarding experience for us. It was easy to focus on the task at hand. Eficode took care of building the prototype and made it easier to get customers involved. The framework worked like a charm,” remembers Elisa Kauria.
A clear-cut decision and customer insight
Viestilehdet now understood whether the service concept might appeal to their customers. This understanding helped avoid potential business risks. It also helped the publisher prioritise their developer resources in an evidence-based manner.
The Design Sprint also spurred countless more ideas for services to develop in the future.
Last but not least, Viestilehdet grew their understanding of the needs and expectations of their customers.
If you’d like to learn more about running a Design Sprints at Eficode, please do get in touch.
