Sprint design with young creatives

October 13, 2024 – I was privileged to recently spend a week in Tirana, Albania with young professionals from Western Balkan public service media and influencers, learning about sprint design for media and content creation, and enjoying their process of developing innovative prototypes. What stood out the most for me was topic itself, or sprint design and necessity of cross border and regional cooperation, especially for young professionals.

We explored sprint design through:
1- goal definition: by clearly defining measurable goals to guide projects—whether creating a video series, apps or producing social media content.
2- ideation & research: by brainstorming, sharing ideas, learning about diverse audiences and exploring trends that could refine content.
3- prototyping & planning: by mapping out content prototypes—storyboards, scripts, video and assigning tasks, fostering teamwork and regional cooperation.
4- testing & feedback: by presenting prototypes to trainers and colleagues for feedback, enriched by perspectives from different countries, experiences and backgrounds.
5- execution & competition: by integrating feedback, refining content and competing before the jury for seed-funding worth up to 5000 euros, driven by a shared commitment to creating impactful media for our region.

Spring Brainstorming

One of the key parts of sprint design is time limited and structured brainstorming as part of the ideation process. Brainstorming is kept focused, efficient and integrated by remaining:

• Structured with a clear objective of what the spring goal should be with creative and strategic thinking
• Diverse with as many team members with various disciplines as possible to bring variety and innovation
• Rapid with techniques such as mind mapping or “how might we’ to quickly generate and explore ideas, leading to thinking outside the box while remaining aligned with project goals.
• Refined by prioritizing ideas based on feasibility, goal alignment, potential impact.
• Actionable by assigning next steps and integrating them into the spring design and timeline, to ensure that ideas can be practically implemented while remaining aligned with project milestones

Learning about sprint design as a powerful tool for fostering creativity, innovation, and actionable outcomes in media and content production, also brought about regional cooperation among the young creators to the forefront. The structured yet flexible approach allowed diverse teams to move quickly from ideation to execution, ensuring that their prototypes were both feasible and impactful. This week of learning has shown that structured, rapid and collaborative planning can create content that resonates with audiences.

Cross-border collaboration

Watching about 30 young professionals collaborate and create highlighted the power of  cross-border cooperation, knowledge sharing and building lasting relationships. This week and these experiences truly emphasize togetherness, collective effort and alliances that drive creativity and innovation, especially in volatile regions.  I am excited to see how these bonds continue to create innovative content that holds the promise to shape the future of media in the Western Balkans and beyond.

📸: Genti Onuzi

To learn about sprint design, check out The Spint Book: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just a Few Days; Invented at Google by Jake Knapp. Perfected with John Zeratsky and the GV design team.

Training was held as part of the EU’s Innovation. Media. Minds Program: Support to Public Service Journalism managed by the Goethe Institut on behalf of the European Commission and with its implementing partner DW Akademie .