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Sprint Lab

Sprint Lab is where we bring our experience of over ten years of Book Sprint facilitation to design new methods for sprinting on various formats and types of content, some of them hybrid formats, others fully virtual.

We now do Virtual Book Sprints

Even before the global pandemic, we had been questioning whether we could reach similar levels of productivity and knowledge exchange in a virtual space. At the beginning of 2020, as part of our commitment to become a more climate-conscious business by reducing air travel, we had started exploring hybrid online-and-onsite collaborative methods. Going virtual did not mean simply taking a process that works well onsite and mapping it onto an online environment. The whole Book Sprint process had to be revisited and re-designed. We spent time designing the virtual process with a specific selection of tools, facilitation techniques, preparations, time boxes, and adding mindfulness exercises to the mix to increase focus, even when working from home under often improvised conditions. For this we turned to Sprint Lab which we founded in 2019 for designing atypical processes.

Customizing the Sprint experience

Sprint Lab is our container for experimentation and innovation. Anything that is not an onsite Book Sprint but still relies on collaborative-knowledge production and a short timeframe fits here. We enjoy working with clients to design Sprints together with them in a collaborative fashion, or for them. In each of these cases, the client organization approached us with a request for facilitation that was slightly outside of the typical Book Sprint facilitation methodology. Rather than decline opportunities to push the limits of facilitation and rapid, collaborative content generation, Sprint Lab encourages it. So far, experiments in the lab have included:

  • Virtual Book Sprint
  • Workflow Sprints
  • Concept Sprints
  • Book update Sprint
  • Open textbook (OER) Sprint
  • Strategy Paper Sprint
  • Online-Course Sprint
  • Curriculum Sprint
  • Conference proceedings Sprint
  • Sprinting with pre-written content

The Art of Facilitation


Sprint Lab is a critical next step to keep ourselves on the cutting edge of facilitation methodology. At the same time, it’s wonderful to now offer some flexibility in the approach for clients who have a desire to experiment with content and collaboration. We are happy to discuss your idea.

Contact Us
  • Shawn Wells and I were the only team members that had participated previously in a Book Sprint and we knew the challenge that was ahead of us. We also knew that if any team could do it, it was going to be a Red Hat team. The key to success with this model is experienced and trusted facilitation, and excellent logistical support. Our Book Sprint facilitation team came through with flying colors."

    – Keith Basil, Senior Principal Product Manager at Red Hat
  • We were writing a handbook and rhetoric guide that any instructor teaching English 100 can use. We got it done in less than a week. So applying the Book Sprints process is really accelerating the adoption and the availability of OER here at the University of Hawaii."

    – Billy Meincke, OER Technologist at University of Hawaii at Manoa
  • It required several authors’ perspectives on the topic to create the lecture script. In the Book Sprint, these perspectives were discussed and aligned to form a coherent narrative. Because the script is peer-reviewed three times, a single person could not have done it better.”

    – Regina Cordes-Frey, Academic Director at IUBH University of Applied Sciences
    • Creating a Just Energy Transition: A Funding Proposal Sprint with IISD

      By Trisha Reyes Feb 16, 2024
      • Policy Sprint
      • Sprint Lab

      Last January 15-19, 2024, 15 individuals from seven different teams at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) met each other face-to-face for the first time for a Sprint at the lovely Chateau de Bossey, near Geneva in Switzerland.  For ... read more

    • Crafting Excellence: Content Sprint with e-teaching.org for their 20th Anniversary

      By Trisha Reyes Nov 30, 2023
      • Academic Sprint
      • Sprint Lab

      Last week, Book Sprints joined e-teaching.org at the beautiful Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien campus to conduct a one-of-a-kind Sprint in celebration of their 20th anniversary. In what was dubbed as a “Content Sprint,” Book Sprints facilitator Barbara Ruehling joined six assessment ... read more

    • A Concept Sprint for a book on MAVA’s legacy

      By karina Piersig Feb 15, 2022
      • Sprint Lab

      In February 2022 we had the pleasure of working with colleagues from the MAVA Foundation again in a beautiful location on the shores of Lake Geneva. After sprinting two books about the foundation’s approach to strategic partnerships and its relatively ... read more

    • Anatomy & Physiology OER Textbook Sprint with University of Hawai’i

      By karina Piersig Dec 7, 2021
      • Academic Sprint
      • Sprint Lab

      In March, a team of 10 faculty members from the University of Hawaii’s many campuses across the islands came together in a virtual Book Sprint to write an Anatomy and Physiology OER textbook. After two OER Textbook Sprints in 2019, ... read more

    • CARE International: Lower Mekong – Regional Climate Strategy

      By karina Piersig Jul 29, 2021
      • Policy Sprint
      • Sprint Lab

      In early 2021, following one year of Covid-19 travel restrictions, we had the privilege to come together with a group of CARE colleagues from Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos in a two-week Virtual Book Sprint. It was organized by Peter Bruun ... read more

    • The second edition of the book ‘Understanding Power Purchase Agreements’ is launched

      By Juliana Secchi Dec 16, 2020
      • News
      • Policy Sprint
      • Sprint Lab

      We celebrate the launch of the second edition of ‘Understanding Power Purchase Agreements’! Revised in an Update Book Sprint, it was launched with a series of masterclasses during the Africa Energy Forum. The writers recorded video presentations for each chapter, ... read more

    • We now do Virtual Book Sprints

      By karina Piersig May 13, 2020
      • Reflection
      • News
      • Sprint Lab

      Facilitating Virtual Book Sprints is our response to the new normal and the needs of our clients. Their need is to collaboratively and efficiently produce knowledge, some of it more urgent than ever. Customizing the Book Sprint experience Our team ... read more

    • WWF’s Systems Thinking Facilitation Kit – a virtual Book Sprint

      By Juliana Secchi May 4, 2020
      • Policy Sprint

      Right after successfully completing our first virtual Book Sprint, it was time for our team to engage in a second. We gathered online with seven participants to write a book with World Wildlife Fund – WWF, on the topic of ... read more

    • OpenShift Security Guide: our first virtual Book Sprint experience

      By Juliana Secchi May 1, 2020

      In April we facilitated our first fully virtual Book Sprint with Red Hat, and we are thrilled to share that OpenShift Security Guide was released for Kindle on May 8th on Amazon ,where the book is already #1 new release and #13 in the ... read more

    • Improving workflows

      By karina Piersig Mar 11, 2020
      • Reflection
      • Sprint Lab

      Most of our clients approach us because they need to make a book. They value our product-oriented methodology and are surprised by how quickly we can get different stakeholders to develop a shared understanding and reach consensus on often very ... read more

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