The highly anticipated new book Click was released! What a guide to how we can innovate and work in 2025. Start with the foundation. It’s a simple, enjoyable, (and even funny) read from Jake Knapp and fellow University of Wisconsin-Madison alum John Zeratsky. They also wrote the book Sprint which is one of my favorites too. Their work on the design sprint has really been monumental in my field of design thinking and innovation. Definitely check out the new book and focus on something important…making something people actually want!
I love the high school computer game story that kicks off the book. 😅
There’s a better way to work now. Here’s the most inspiring (and funny) passage so far for me:
“It doesn’t help that the world’s most popular approach to kicking off new projects is… chaos. Meet, and meet, and meet. Talk, and talk, and talk. Churn out slide decks, documents, and spreadsheets that no one actually reads. Outlast your opponents in a political cage match. Finally, rely on a hunch and commit to years of work.
That’s the old way. And it is bonkers. Doing things the old way, it can take six months or more to develop a strategy. The old way is like assembling IKEA furniture by tossing parts, an Allen wrench, and a dozen squirrels into a broom closet, then hoping for the best. There is a new way.”
The approach from the book is simple to apply. The Foundation Sprint is a good foundation to the Design Sprint.
Click: How to Make What People Want by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky
Here’s the description of Click from Amazon:
From the New York Times bestselling authors of Sprint, a guide for starting big projects the smart way—based on firsthand experience with more than three hundred new products and businesses.
Every big project—whether it’s creating new technology, developing a fresh line of sneakers, or opening a neighborhood café—requires a major investment to get off the ground. Unfortunately, most big projects flop with customers. Too many teams waste time, money, and opportunity because they follow the wrong strategy and lose sight of what really matters: Do people want what you’re making? Does your solution click with customers?
Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky—two brilliant product designers who spent years at Google Ventures and elsewhere before founding a venture capital firm together—have helped hundreds of teams bring new products and services into the world. As designers and investors, they have a front-row seat to some of the world’s most successful startups. Click introduces the Foundation Sprint—a proven system for starting projects the right way, to make better decisions and move quickly toward a solution.
Inside are ten important lessons, a step-by-step playbook for the Foundation Sprint, and memorable stories from Nike, Google, Slack, and the frontiers of artificial intelligence research. Building on their bestselling book, Sprint, Knapp and Zeratsky introduce new recipes that teams can use to quickly and confidently start projects. For anyone who has ever had a good idea but didn’t know how to start, this book is for you.