Hey Christophe,
thanks for your feedback.
1. I agree with you, if there is no willingness from the C-suite to be part of the Design Sprint or even care about it, it’s probably a good idea to do something else.
Sometimes, the CEO is all-in and fully supportive but really can’t commit to a 5-day (or even 4-day) Sprint. And it’s very hard to give a GO/NO-GO on Friday afternoon anyway.
You can, of course, skip the “Judgment Day” if you get a clear agreement at the end of the Sprint. In our experience, it has proven very useful to make the right decisions with a cool head.
2. Not really, because you can decide not to develop anything after the first Design Sprint (no go), and you let the team decide on the scope of the MVP.
- The Prototype at the end of the Sprint is not a real product, just a high-fidelity representation of a (good) business idea that has to be tested
- The MVP is the first (really bad) but functional version of the product