Monday: Map the Challenge and Choose the Target

Day 1 of 5: Setting the foundation. On Monday, the Sprint team dives into understanding the problem and setting a clear direction for the week. The day starts with defining a long-term goal and tough questions: what do we want to achieve, and what uncertainties do we need to address? Next, the team creates a simple map of the user journey or process. This high-level map lays out how your product or service works, step by step, and pinpoints pain points or opportunities. It’s not about detail – it’s about everyone seeing the big picture of the challenge. In the afternoon, you invite experts (team members or stakeholders) to share insights on the problem, enriching the map with their perspectives. All those insights and questions help reveal the most critical parts of the challenge.

By day’s end, the team chooses a target: a specific customer and moment on the map to focus on. This might be the riskiest assumption or the biggest opportunity – the part of the problem that, if solved, would make the most impact. Picking a narrow target ensures the Sprint won’t try to boil the ocean. It rallies everyone around a clear focal point for the rest of the week.

Key takeaways:

Define a clear goal: Start by articulating your long-term objective and what outcome would mean success. This guides Sprint’s efforts.

Map the journey: Sketch a simple end-to-end map of your product/service experience. Who is involved? What are the key steps? This visual will align your team’s understanding.

Ask the experts: Gather input from people who know different facets of the problem (customer support, engineering, sales, etc.). Their insights surface hidden obstacles and opportunities.

Pick a focal point: Identify one target user and one critical moment on the map to concentrate on. This will be the core that you’ll try to solve in the Sprint. Focus is power on Day 1.

Reflection: How do you and your team define the real challenge before jumping to solutions? Have you tried mapping out the customer journey together to find where to focus? Share your experiences!