Before hearing from Viskan, let’s have a quick walkthrough of the Design Sprint process. A Design Sprint is a 4-day workshop where teams go from hypothesis to usability tested prototype, reducing risk when taking feature improvements, new features and products to the market. 

What makes the Design Sprint process so powerful, is how it allows teams to really focus and work together, learning from experts as they define the optimal user journey, sketch together, create a prototype and learn from users through usability tests. It’s a very efficient way to both get creative and get closer to the customers!

If you want to learn more about Design Sprints, or would like support with running one, you can find more information here.

With that said, let’s hear from Carl N., Digital Growth Manager at Viskan.

Could you tell us a bit about how you work with Design Sprints, and how it affects your product development process?

Historically, Viskan has adhered to a purely functional approach, somewhat neglecting the importance of a great user experience and user interface. In recent years, this viewpoint became evident to our customers, and although they valued the robustness of our product, there was an increasing demand for something more visually appealing and user-friendly. Acknowledging this need marked a significant turning point in our evolution, steering our development towards solutions that truly resonate with our users.

Design Sprints proved to be a useful tool in this transformation, leading us to refine our approach significantly. Instead of being an afterthought, design now holds a prominent place in enhancing our product development process. We particularly utilise Design Sprints when transitioning core legacy functionality to the latest version of our platform and when rolling out major new functionality.

How would you describe the impact on your teams and company so far?

The impact of Design Sprints on our teams and Viskan as a company has been very positive. By integrating these sprints into our development and design processes, we've not only fostered a more collaborative environment but also deepened our understanding across different departments.

Design Sprints have also opened up a new channel for customer feedback, allowing us to more effectively capture and integrate our users' voices into the product development.

How did you first learn about Design Sprints, and what made you want to try it out in your company?

We began our journey searching for ways to enhance our ability to design large applications with a focus on user experience, recognising that our design team lacked this experience at the time. Our initial exploration took us through various online courses and companies offering assistance, however, Dan Bergman, our Product Development Manager soon realised we already had a valuable resource at our disposal—Visma!

That’s how we got in touch with the group-wide service Product Discovery. After they shared information about the process, along with some reference sprints, we immediately wanted to try it out!

What are some successes and challenges you have experienced with Design Sprints?

One of the most significant successes we've achieved through utilising the Design Sprint methodology came with the redevelopment of our help desk feature—a complex and crucial component of our platform. This project marked a milestone for us as it was the first Design Sprint we executed independently, without assistance from Visma. We successfully brought together cross-functional teams, fostering a high degree of collaboration and alignment on objectives. Moreover, it provided an invaluable platform for including our customers directly in the design process, enabling us to gather and incorporate their feedback effectively, thereby ensuring the final product met their needs and expectations.

The challenge statement of this sprint targeted customer support employees, with a focus on enhancing user interaction and operational efficiency in managing incoming and outgoing emails. The primary outcome was an enhanced management of email communications, achieved through the introduction of threaded conversations. Additionally, another significant improvement was the enhanced overview through the implementation of labels and statuses. This feature allows for the efficient filtering of tickets, along with providing visibility into which customer support employee is working on what ticket.

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