Product Innovation Sprint

Reinvent your product innovation AI-powered sprints for the age of rapid change

Yesterday: 6 months to validate an idea

Today: 2 weeks with AI acceleration

Tomorrow: Your product in market

Schedule

4 weeks, 3 workshops, 20 hours Product Coaching

Plus AI-powered analysis

Note: Schedule can be adjusted based on team needs and project complexity.

AI components run continuously in the background, supporting human decision-making throughout the sprint.

Week 1: Vision, Customer Discovery

2-Day Workshop + 3 x 30 min Coaching

Day 1-2: Vision Alignment & Challenge Framing

  • AI analyzes market trends and competitor landscape

  • Team defines strategic focus areas

  • Tools training: Using AI for customer research

Day 3-5: Deep Customer Discovery

  • AI processes existing customer feedback and market data

  • Team conducts targeted customer interviews

  • AI synthesizes findings in real-time

  • Leadership check-in with data-backed insights

Week 2: Value Proposition Design

1-Day Workshop + 4 x 30 min Coaching

Day 1: Opportunity Mapping

  • AI generates opportunity clusters from Week 1 data

  • Team prioritizes using AI-enhanced decision matrix

  • Value proposition design supported by market evidence

Day 2-5: First Test-Learn Cycle

  • AI helps generate and evaluate solution concepts

  • Team designs first experiments

  • Real-time analysis of test results

  • Leadership alignment with evidence dashboard

Week 3: Rapid Testing & Learning

5 x 30 min. Coaching

  • AI continuously processes new test data

  • Team runs rapid experiments

  • Smart prototyping with AI assistance

  • Pattern recognition across test results

  • Leadership check-in with impact metrics

Week 4: Validation & Decision

1-Day Workshop + 3x 30min Coaching

  • Day 1-3: Final Test-Learn Cycle

    • AI consolidates all test results

    • Team refines solution based on evidence

    • Automated prototype improvements

  • Day 4: Results Preparation

    • AI generates comprehensive insights report

    • Team prepares data-backed pitch

    • Impact visualization using AI tools

  • Day 5: Stakeholder Review

    • Present validated concept with evidence

    • Clear metrics and next steps

    • Handover of AI insights dashboard

Who is this for

This sprint is for product teams with bold ideas who need evidence, not assumptions. You've got a promising concept – maybe a new market opportunity or a game-changing feature – and you need validation in weeks, not months. Perfect for innovation leaders and product teams who want to combine their expertise with AI's analytical power to make better decisions faster. You'll need 2-4 dedicated team members, access to customers, and a readiness to learn. Not for teams wanting AI to make all decisions or those unwilling to talk to real customers.

Is Your Team Ready for an AI-Powered Innovation Sprint?

Essential Requirements

  • 100% dedicated team for the sprint duration

  • Access to customer data or willingness to engage with users

  • Openness to AI-enhanced innovation methods

  • Decision-making authority within the sprint scope

  • Ability to create and test prototypes rapidly

Your Team Should Be

  • Customer-centric or eager to adopt this mindset

  • Ready to use data-driven approaches

  • Comfortable with rapid experimentation

  • Cross-functional with diverse perspectives

  • Willing to challenge assumptions

Technical Prerequisites

  • Relevant data available for AI analysis

  • Basic understanding of AI capabilities

  • Access to necessary tools and resources

  • Ability to implement quick prototypes

Tangible outcomes of a Product Innovation Sprint

The outcomes of a single Product Innovation Sprint is a validated product idea, a repeatable innovation process to iterate product ideas fast, an upskilled team and strategic stakeholder alignment. During Product Innovation Sprints teams consistently create strategically well designed, tested value propositions so that leadership can decide where to invest based on market evidence. Teams are empowered to apply the tools within the mindset required for entrepreneurship and innovation. 

Teams learn 

  • how to shape and refine a growth idea with design thinking, systematically and rigorously test ideas in the field

  • how to select and apply sequences of tests based on a set of 50 lean experiments, identify the most critical assumptions, gather evidence and insights

  • how to define actionable product metrics for early stage ideas 

and leaders will learn 

  • how to empower autonomous product teams

  • how to measure progress of product innovation projects

  • how to use evidence to make investment decisions in their innovation portfolio.

How we do it

The Product Innovation Sprint can be done by a single team or scaled up for many teams to manage a product innovation portfolio. It Sprint starts with a team lift-off workshop and tools training. Then teams will work in short iterations from a day to a week long. With a coach they will apply the tools to decide and re-align rapidly on next steps: shelve, pivot or persevere. At the end they will present evidence-backed data and measurable progress of innovation projects to leadership and stakeholders.

The team

The team should be small (2-4 People), cross-functional and bring sufficient domain knowledge of the innovation field and passion for the topic. We encourage self-assignment to join the Product Innovation Sprint when possible.

Most important for leadership: the team members need the time and have access to potential new customers. And the team needs to be empowered and operate in a space with high psychological safety to enable fast decision making and good collaboration.

For prototyping some technical/UX skills are good to have else #nocode development and Lean UX support can be provided additionally to Product Coaching.

Our way of working

When working with organisations who are leading in digital and agile product development we are constantly deepening our knowledge in designing agile product organisations that grow organically and adapt to fit needs. In the process of using our toolbox in coaching corporate startups and accelerators from global companies we’ve identified a set of core principles and success factors that guide us as we help innovation teams:

Organize in small, 100% dedicated, cross-functional teams using lightweight agile roles. Have a dedicated sponsor who leads in an agile way, creates high level of psychological safety and gives forthright, non-violent feedback. Nurture a culture of high autonomy, shared purpose, mastery and trust,. Establish a customer-centric flow, value create over react. Have a strong shared vision combined with rapid empirical design/test cycle for fast learning. Utilize a lightweight, emergent, adaptive agile process owned by the people who do the work, in a continuous improvement cycle, with emphasis on: focus, speed, action, visualization, time-boxing and experimenting. Be mindful of setting up a physical and digital workspace that adapts for creative work.

Inspired customers

  • “With the Product Innovation Sprint we were able to strategize, create and test a valuable user-oriented product prototype in just a few weeks what usually would have taken us various months. Our #PoDojo coaches guided our team brilliantly through this process with lots of empathy and experience.”

    Tobias Merktle | Project Manager Digital Innovation | BWF Group

  • “The methodology and the tools the #PoDojo used brought everyone up to speed very quickly. It was interesting to see how fast you can develop your skills if you use the right structure and tools. Such a great experience that helped me and the team to develop great skills for a successful future.”

    Ellie Amirnasr | CEO at qlair

  • “We have hired the #PoDojo to introduce us to Lean Startup and Design Thinking for Business Model and Value Proposition Design. The action-oriented teaching style and deep knowledge of how to apply the tools helped us a lot so that the new thinking is now well accepted by our innovation coaches helping teams.”

    Bastian Gerhard | Head of Innovation and Enablement at Zalando SE

  • “Our Lean Product Innovation Workshop with Stefan was a great experience and although we are already pros with respect to Design Thinking and Lean Startup each of us expanded their know-how and got introduced to new tools.”

    Carolin (Torner) Kroeger | Digital Business & Innovation Consultant and Co-Founder at beingfemale.de

  • “#PoDojo guided my team from STREAMETRIC and me in finding the actual problems of our customers. Our workshops helped the team to be more confident in testing and learning from failures, making it possible to build prototypes faster and increase their insights.”

    Alexander Ubl | Co-Founder STREAMETRIC

  • “The PoDojo team was top of my mind during our search for a coach to up-skill up our Product & Design teams. Stefan supported us with regular catch-up's and guided us in ideation, interviewing, design sprints and conceptualisation. Thank you”

    Tanya Höpker | Head of Product Management at FinLink

  • “Great workshop, very action orientated and really valuable experience for our Startup.”

    Vincent Houdebine | CEO at Tiresio

  • “Suprising experience on converting my idea into reality. Helping a research guy to learn to think in business model. Guide you towards the right direction.”

    Shushu Ding | BASF

  • “The guys make a great job bringing the practical component to the lean startup theory! Thank you!”

    Philipp Katz | Co Funder LineUpr

3 Minutes Interview after Lifting-Off the Product Innovation Sprint with Henning Lueke, Startup Founder of Atameo at Axel Springer Plug&Play

Would you like to learn more?

We are much looking forward to talking to you soon!