the master's degree tier list for 2023. In today's videos, we are going to be ranking master's degrees from S tier, which is the best to F tier, which is the worst. And I've been hard at work making this year's list. It's going to be different than last year's. The main change that I have to this year's list is I actually included entry level job demand, right? So last year I basically just have the demand in general, but the truth is there is a difference between the demand of a career and the demand of the career at the entry level. Cause there's a lot of careers out there that have great demand, but you already have to have experience. So it's more useful for people watching this video because most of the people who watch my video are in high school or college to know the demand at the entry level. So I put a lot of work into this year's list. If you appreciate that, go ahead and let me know by psychologically destroying that like button, like Gordon Ramsay when someone messes up in the kitchen. And let's go ahead and jump into it. All right, so first we're going to talk about technology degrees at the master's level. So when it comes to technology careers, it's so difficult to tell you the best way to get into them because the truth is the degrees have really good outcomes, but just about every other way of getting into technology careers also have good outcomes. So there's like six different ways you could get into technology to careers. You could get a degree, you could self study, you could get certificates, you could do online courses, et cetera, et cetera. And basically any way that you get into technology careers is going to be a good return on your investment because the technology industry is the best industry to work in. So you really have to take it on a person by person basis and a situation by situation basis when it comes to figuring out what the best way to get into these technology careers is. Now that being said, there are certain technology careers where getting a master's degree is going to help you out. If you're just trying to become a front end web developer, you don't need to get a master's degree. And honestly, you probably don't even need to get a bachelor's degree. However, if you're trying to learn machine learning or artificial intelligence, getting a master's degree might help you. So just keep that in mind while I'm going over this list. But with that being said, let's say you get a master's degree in computer science. You'd expect to make about $106,000 a year as a computer scientist according to Glassdoor. And you'd likely make a little bit more than that with a master's degree. There are about 12,400 people graduating with a master's degree in computer science per year. And if you type in computer science on LinkedIn at the entry level, you are gonna see 191,000 results. So lots of job postings have that keyword of computer science in them. So technology degrees or just other ways of getting into technology in general are going to be S tier on every single level, including masters. Next one on the list is going to be engineering master's degrees. So this is another one where you're gonna have to take it on a case-by-case basis because there are certain careers where getting a master's degree is going to help you. There are certain careers where you have to get a master's degree or it's very close to having to get one. But the vast majority of careers you actually don't need to get a master's degree in engineering in order to get into. So it's very important you know what career you're going for. But with that being said, let's say you got a master's in electrical or electronics engineering, there's about 11,000 people that do that every year. As an electrical engineer, you could expect to make about $95,000 a year. And if you look up electrical engineering on LinkedIn at the entry level, you're gonna see about 38,000 results. So the great thing about engineering degrees is you can get a bachelor's level degree and you're gonna have a lot of different options out there. And if you want to go back and get a master's, you'll likely even make more money. But the key thing here is it's an option. You don't have to do it. There are many other types of degrees out there where you pretty much don't have an option. You have to go back and get a master's or a doctorate in order to work in that field. With engineering, you do have an option and they're pretty much good at every single level of education. So engineering is also gonna go into S tier. Next one on the list is going to be science degrees at the master's level. So there are some science degrees out there where at the bachelor's level, they're actually pretty bad. And an example of that would be biology. There are tons and tons of biology graduates every single year at the bachelor's level.  And even if you are able to land a job, it's not gonna be very well paying and you're probably not gonna have very good job satisfaction. However, at the master's level, there is gonna be more opportunities for you. So for instance, let's say you get a biology degree at the master's level, about 3,500 people do that every year, you could become a research scientist. Now, typically research scientists, especially in biology are gonna have PhDs, but you could get into the position with just a master's, but you'd likely make less money than this. Now, according to Glassdoor, they make about $97,000 a year. But if you type in like biological science, for instance, they make about 70,000 a year. And if you type in biological science on LinkedIn at the entry level, you are gonna see about 45,000 results.  But the truth is technology and engineering degrees are much better than science degrees and they're a little bit better than math degrees as well. But that's just generally speaking, and it really does depend on what your goals are and if you have a plan. But with that being said, science degrees are gonna go into B tier at the master's level. Next one on the list is going to be math degrees. So let's say you get a degree in mathematics and statistics, about 10,000 people do get that every single year at the master's level. If you became a mathematician, you would expect to make about $90,000 per year. And if you became a mathematical statistician, which for some reason I cannot say that word, you would expect to make about $105,000 a year.  If you look up statistician on LinkedIn at the entry level, you're gonna see 14,000 results. So yeah, decent amount of demand there. A lot of companies, especially in like finance, for instance, will hire people who graduate with mathematics or statistics degrees. But mathematics especially tends to be a little bit less practical than an engineering degree. But overall, I'm gonna give mathematics-related degrees at the master's level an A tier rating. Next one on the list is going to be an acupuncturist. So there's a couple different names for this type of degree. It's kind of like a natural medicine doctor or an acupuncturist. But there's about 1,200 people that graduate with this degree every year at the master's level. And if you become a licensed acupuncturist in the US on Glassdoor, it says you're gonna make about $57,000 a year. So that is pretty low, especially for a master's level degree. And I did a video where I looked at numbers that were collected by a website that actually works with people who have graduate level degrees and they get deep into debt. An acupuncturist actually had a 4.6 to 1 debt-to-income ratio, which was one of the worst on the list. What that essentially means is they were taking out way more debt than the amount of money they were making after they graduated.  And he's a pretty smart guy, but he was not able to successfully start an acupuncture natural medicine type practice. He tried several times and then he also tried working for somebody else and he was not able to find a job. So I've gotten a few comments saying like, oh, Shane, you're a hater of natural medicine and stuff like that. Actually, no, I'm not a hater at all. I'm just giving you the numbers. Now, if you type in acupuncturist on LinkedIn, there are about 35,000 results at the entry level. So if you wanna go into this, just make sure you do your research, make sure you know what the laws are in your state, make sure you know what state you wanna practice in and all that sort of thing. You need to have a really good plan if you go into this. This one is gonna go into F tier. Next one on the list is going to be an art-related masters degree. Now, I've said this many times before, for 99.9% of people out there, you should not get an art degree.  But that is incredibly rare. For everybody else, you do not need to get an art degree.  And I bet you'd spend a lot less money doing that and you'd learn a lot more than going to college for four years. It just does not make sense. College and creativity are like polar opposites. College is old, antiquated, stuck in the mud. There's nothing creative about college at all. They are not cutting edge at all. In fact, anything that happens that is cutting edge, college usually takes like 10 to 15 years to adjust to it. All you have to do is look at like digital marketing, for instance. Colleges are teaching stuff that worked like 10, 15 years ago and it does not work now. That's the problem with colleges is they're just so slow to adapt to things. So anything that is cutting edge that takes time to adapt to, colleges are not gonna be good at teaching you. Now let's take music performance for an example here. There's about 2,100 people who graduate with this one every year. If you look up artist on Glassdoor, you're gonna see they make about $46,000 a year on average and if you look up artist on LinkedIn, you'll see about 29,000 results at the entry level. This one is gonna go into F tier. Next one on the list is going to be getting a master's degree in order to become a college professor. Now I did an entire video on should you get a graduate degree and I broke it down in detail in that video. I talked about why you should and why you shouldn't get a graduate level degree and many people want to get graduate degrees because their goal is to become a college professor.  But that is a big if and most people are trying to become college professors in the subjects that are even more difficult to get into. So for instance, if you want to become a college professor and you are an engineer, it's actually much easier to get into it in that way. And the reason for that is because if you have an engineering degree, there are so many other options for you. And so there's way less competition to become a college professor. Whereas if you went to school and you got like a creative writing degree or an art history degree or an art degree or a social science degree, something along those lines, it's much more difficult to become a college professor. Oftentimes you will apply to a position and there'll be like 400, 500 other applicants. It all just goes back to supply and demand at the end of the day. But let's just assume here that you are able to become a college professor, right? If you were to become a college professor, you'd make about $114,000 a year. And if you type in college professor on LinkedIn, there's about 4,000 results. So if you're able to become a college professor, this one is awesome, but it really depends on the subject that you're trying to get into. Because your chances of being successful here are very low if you try to become a college professor in certain subjects. But with that being said, assuming you are able to do it, this one goes into A tier. Next one on the list is going to be data science. And this is one where you would typically get a master's degree in something like statistics. So for instance, about 3,100 people graduate with a master's in statistics per year. And if you are able to become a data scientist, you would make about $123,000 a year according to Glassdoor. And if you type in data scientist on LinkedIn, you're gonna see about 74,000 results. Now this is another one where there's a lot of argument because a lot of people say, hey, you can become a data scientist with just a bachelor's degree. Some people even say you can become a data scientist without any degree at all. And I agree, it is possible to do that, but you have to sort of realize and sort of look at like what are your chances and what are your odds. And data science is one of those careers where getting a master's degree really is going to help you land those careers. So this one, I'm gonna put it into S tier. Next one on the list is going to be a master's of business administration. And this one, honestly, I should probably just make an entire video about it because it really does depend on the person's situation and what their goals are. So MBAs or master's of business administration degrees, you know, there's so many different types. There's so many different schools. There's so many schools that offer these. A lot of the time they'll even offer like dual degrees. And to be honest with you, most MBAs are not worth it at all. MBA is one of those degrees where it can be worth it if you go to the right school and you're doing it for the right goals and situation. So if you got an MBA degree, you might want to become a manager for instance. And managers make about $95,000 a year according to Glassdoor. And if you type in manager on LinkedIn, you're gonna see over a million results at the entry level. So there definitely is a ton of demand for people who are good at management. But the question here is, is getting an MBA actually gonna help you get good at management? Or do you get good at management by working? And I think you probably get much better at management just by simply working. But with that being said, going to certain schools, getting an MBA absolutely can open doors for you. But it really does depend on the situation. So be careful with this one. I'm gonna go ahead and put it into B tier overall. Next one on the list is going to be other types of business related master's degrees. So in this particular example, I'm gonna be using international business. International business has about 1900 graduates per year. And according to Glassdoor, when you type in international business, they're reporting about a $93,000 a year salary. If you type in international business on LinkedIn, you're gonna see about 25,000 results. So business is getting more and more international. This is a valuable skill to know. It's another one where you really have to plan things out, right? You don't just wanna get an international business degree willy-nilly.  And if you're gonna be specializing in that country, you should probably know their language as well. But overall, business related degrees at the master's level, I really do have mixed feelings on this one. Business is one of those things where, in my opinion, the only way you can really get good at it is to just practice, just to do it. It's kind of like riding a bike. You're not gonna learn how to ride a bike by reading books or watching videos or having a college professor lecture you on how to ride a bike. You learn how to ride a bike by jumping on the bike and trying to ride it. And the same thing goes with business, in my opinion. So overall, this one, I'm gonna go ahead and put it into B tier. Next one on the list is going to be a master's level education degree in order to become a teacher. So according to Glassdoor, instructors make about $62,000 a year. And according to LinkedIn, when you type in teaching instructor, you're gonna see about 91,000 results. And if you type in instructor, you're gonna see 213,000 results. So I do think teaching is a super valuable profession. Society really needs this. And it's one of those professions where it's not good, but it's also not bad. The good thing about education degrees is you're absolutely gonna have a job. The bad thing about education degrees is you're gonna be somewhat limited in how much you can make. And there's also a lot of other downsides to it. So this one I'm gonna put into C tier. And by the way, I interviewed Javier on this channel and he was basically in a graduate level program. And his goal was to either become a professor and his graduate level degree was nothing like what he expected. And when he looked into it a little more deeply, he also realized his chances of getting a job were very low. And even if he was able to get a job, it wasn't something that excited him. So he started looking into alternatives and he found digital marketing. So he was able to land a career in digital marketing. It was much better for him. And now he makes over $100,000 a year and he's really happy pursuing his goals. So if you wanna check out a free masterclass on how I recommend getting into digital marketing, check that link down in the description as well as the pinned comment below. Next one on the list is going to be nurse practitioner at the master's level. Now this is one where it's a phenomenal career. They are kind of transitioning into requiring a doctorate. I'm not exactly sure when that transition is gonna happen, but that is the plan. But right now you can still become a nurse practitioner with just a master's degree. So these are numbers from a few years ago, but there's about 28,000 people graduating with master's level nursing degrees right now. And that's per year. And if you type in nurse practitioner on Glassdoor, you're gonna see about $139,000 a year. If you type in nurse practitioner on LinkedIn, you're gonna see 196,000 results at the entry level. So phenomenal career, health degrees in general are just amazing at every single level. This one goes into S tier. Next one on the list is another health degree that's gonna be occupational therapist at the master's level. About 6,800 people graduate with this one every year. The pay is a little bit low at about $95,000 a year according to Glassdoor. And if you look it up on LinkedIn at the entry level, you're gonna see about 55,000 results. Now one thing I will say about this one is it has some of the highest job satisfaction scores out of any job out there. So the pay is a little bit lower than some of the other medical related careers, but with that being said, job satisfaction is extremely high. That can be super important. So definitely look into this one. I'm gonna put it into A tier. Next one on the list is physician assistant. This is a master's level degree, about 8,500 people graduate with every year. And by the way, this one is now known as physician associate, but most of the major websites still call it physician assistant, so that's what I'm gonna call it. Now there's a lot of different specialties here, but if you type in physician assistant and cardiothoracic surgery, you're gonna see about $101,000 a year. And if you type in physician associate on LinkedIn, you're gonna see 41,000 results. So yeah, another really good one, really good at the master's level especially. One thing I absolutely love about this one is how flexible it is. This is one of the most flexible medical careers. And what I mean by that is if you became a medical doctor, you would have to specialize in something and you would do a residency that lasts somewhere between three to seven years in order to specialize.  It is very, very easy for you to switch as a physician assistant. And flexibility is one of the most underrated things. I think flexibility might be like my number one thing, possibly slightly behind demand. So yeah, physician assistant without a doubt goes into S tier. Next one on the list is going to be psychologist at the master's level. So every year about 27,000 people graduate with a psychology degree at the master's level. Now it is very difficult to get a job as a psychologist with just a master's degree. There are certain kind of like niche sub-careers there where you can, but typically they want you to have a doctorate degree. But with that being said, psychologists make about $85,000 a year. And if you type in psychologist on LinkedIn, there is 142,000 results. So with this one, typically you are going to have to get a doctorate degree, but overall I'm going to put this one into C tier. Next on the list is other social science slash humanity related degrees at the master's level. So for instance, you could get a multi or interdisciplinary studies degree at the master's level. You could become an anthropologist and they make about $52,000 a year. And if you look up anthropologist on LinkedIn, you're going to see about 865 results. So these types of degrees, a lot of the time you're going to have to get a doctorate to even stand a chance to land a job. And even in that case, sometimes you're not going to get a job. And even if you do get a job, they're typically not going to pay very well. So yeah, very, very tough. Make sure you do your research here. This one is going to go into D tier. Next one on the list is going to be a social worker. This one is known as MSW or masters in social work. About 29,000 people graduate with this one every year. And if you type in social worker on Glassdoor, you're going to see they make about $57,000 a year, which is very low for a master's degree. And if you type it in on LinkedIn, you are going to see 129,000 results. So when I did the debt to income ratio score, which I did that in a previous video, this one did have one of the worst debt to income ratios. So these MSW programs are charging people a lot of money. They're coming out of these programs and they're not making much. So you really have to be careful with this one. But with that being said, there are quite a few social worker jobs out there. Kind of reminds me of teacher a little bit. So this one is going to go into C tier. Next one on the list is speech language pathologist. About 3,800 graduates per year here. If you type this one into Glassdoor, you're going to see they make about $94,000 a year. And if you look on LinkedIn at the entry level, you are going to see 40,000 results. So yeah, another really good health related degree. This one is going to go into A tier. So if you have any doubts at all about whether you want to get a graduate level degree, I highly, highly recommend you watch that video with Javier. We discussed the pros and cons of graduate level degrees in that video. So definitely check that out right here.


I'm overwhelmed. Thank you. We are busy today. We've got 90 minutes for a five day thing. So I'm going to go through the introductions really shortly. My name is Aino Corrie. I'm from Denmark. 47 years old, got three children. The oldest is 23. I have a PhD in computer science from the last millennium. It's actually true. It's been embarrassing, that's how it is. So I'm going to do the shortest design sprint I've ever heard of. And I hope you'll play along because there will be some interaction between you, not between us. I had hoped that this would be different, but I had to change this a bit with a number of people. So first, how many of you have attended a design sprint before? How many of you have facilitated a design sprint before? Yeah. OK. Good. So you're the right audience. So a design sprint, for those of you who haven't really looked at it before, is a very quick way to design prototype and test the viability of an idea, a product, or a feature. So we all know that cycle is going between having an idea, trying it out, seeing how it works, reflecting on how it works, and then changing it, how you build it. But the design sprint is short cutting this process. So in a very short period of time, you can get an idea and you can learn about that idea. That is sort of the whole point of the design sprint. And that's why we call it a sprint because it's not a marathon. It's a sprint. We're doing it very, very quickly. And so for making a design sprint preparation is very important. You need to have a big, important challenge, something that's worth five days of focused work. And it could be like it could be a software system. It could be a small app. It could be a new feature on an existing system. It could be an idea you want to try out. It could be anything you want to try out. What it cannot be, as I've learned from bad experiences, is a debugging session. It simply doesn't work for a debugging session. So project leaders will think, wonderful, we can get all this done in five days. But that is not really what the design sprints are built for. The design sprints are built for innovation and trying out new things. So you also freeze design sprint. You need somebody called the decider. So it is a collective work. But you need somebody who can put their foot down at some point and say, this is what we do. Because there's only so much we can do collectively by deciding. And normally in a design sprint, you'll have around seven to nine people. So that's why I've decided that each table have their own design sprint. So if you have a critical mass, then it'll be fine. You over there probably don't have a critical mass for doing a design sprint. So if you want to engage in the activities, you better move to another table. You don't have to. I'm just saying that two is too small. So for each table now, I'd like it to decide who is the decider. And the decider would only have two jobs today. So it's an easy job for the decider. So you have one minute to find out who's the decider on your table. And then when you know the decider, stands up. So the role of the decider is if people cannot agree, then the decider will say, this is what we go for. This is the decision. And normally that would be a multimillion dollar responsibility. But today it's just being laughed at. And there's a bit of exercise in it as well. So everybody, all the deciders, please rise up. Stand up. And now all the deciders walk to here where all the material is. And the first job of the decider is to take a big piece of paper, and some pens, and some post-it notes, and some A4 paper as well, some printer paper. And if it's not enough, you know where to get it. Now you're the deciders. OK, I'll just let the last deciders run around. And you also need to find the right room and the materials. So it should be like a room that's not too big. It should be cozy. So we don't really fit in here. And it should have windows so that you can look outside the window at times, which we also don't have. But perhaps you can find a nice view on your laptop or something like that if you need to look at something else. Let's get to it now. The design sprint is five days, and you do different things on each day. So the first day is where you map the problem. You try to understand the problem. Then you sketch the problem.  Then you create a prototype, and then you test it. But we only have 90 minutes. So what do we do? I was considering very much what I should do with this. And my first plan was to just make everything shorter and faster, which would have been terrible. And you wouldn't have learned anything. So I decided instead that the whole mapping the first day I will do up here. And then you will do day two and day three. And day four and day five I will just explain. And I decided that because to me, the magic part of the design sprint are those two days. Everything else that happens, you've tried before. And perhaps you've tried the things on day two and three before. But to me, that is sort of the crucial point that is what I want you to try to experiment with. So I'm sorry we had to skip some of it, but I hope you'll get something out of this better than just very short of everything. So normally when I started the design sprint, what I do is that I have an icebreaker. And the reason why I have an icebreaker is twofold. First, I want people to relax and have fun. I believe in laughter. I think laughter is very important for the well-being of people and for the trust between people and for people liking each other. So I want to start with a laugh in some way. And then also because when people attend a design sprint, they probably just read their email or they talk to their spouses or they thought about the problems their kids have.  And we want to kick that brain residue out of the brain. So I want people to do something differently so that they can start thinking about what we're doing right now. And an activity that I thought we'd try was tribes. But I don't think we have time for it right now. So I'll save it for later. If there's time in the end, we can try it out, unfortunately. Then the ground rules in a design sprint is that the facilitator is in charge of the time. I've got one of these timers. And preferably I would have liked to bring a time timer for each table, but I'll let you know how much time has gone. And also you tell people that don't look at your phones, don't look at your computers during this design sprint. If you need to answer the phone, you go outside. If you need to send an email, it's fine, but you go outside. And you also have time in the breaks.  Nobody can multitask.  And it's very important that you listen to each other. So the overview of the schedule is that the first day you understand, you listen to experts, you have questions, you talk to the decision makers in the organization.  Oh, spelling error, sorry. And the third day we decide what we want to focus on the fourth day. We build the prototype, and we test the prototype. And the fifth day, we validate it with real users. But as I said, we have to narrow down on the sketching and the deciding today. So what happens at a five-day retrospect design sprint is actually that you use divergent and convergent thinking all the time. So I don't know if you know about it, but most meetings should have divergent and convergent thinking. So you start off with knowing what you want. Hopefully, you're on the same ground. And then you diverge, and you discuss different ideas, and you might not be in agreement.  And that's what should happen during the first day. The second day you sketch, you open up all the ideas again. Everything is open. Everything is OK. You might not be in agreement. And then the third day you decide, you narrow it down. You decide what you want to have. And then what happens on day four and day five is also that you have a prototype with different possibilities or perhaps even more than one prototype. And then when you validate it with the users on the fifth day, after you've validated it with users, you have sort of a retrospective session talking about what they said and what that means then for the future. Where do you want to go with this idea slash system slash prototype? So we start. Now it's Monday morning, and we want to understand. And one thing that I think is also interesting to have at the design sprint, it doesn't stem from the design sprint. It was there before the design sprint. But it's something called how might we. So everybody in the design sprint get a pen and some post-it notes. And whenever they have a question or if they are critical about something, they write down how might we do this. Because sometimes when you hear somebody coming up with ideas or giving a presentation, then you'll sit there thinking, ah, could never be done. It won't work. We tried this before.  So to me, the magic in the how might we is that instead of thinking negative thoughts like that, you're trying to rephrase it in your mind. And you're saying, how might we actually do this? How might we solve this problem? So you're starting the positive thinking already there. And the how might we is just a specific form of not taking that you use in the design sprint. And I'll show you later what we use it for. So imagine that you are now making how might we notes or you shouldn't, because I made them all for you. Now a big important challenge is what we wanted. And it was really hard for me to find a big important challenge. Because coming from Denmark, our challenges are really silly. So I was thinking like a library system. I thought, nah, not really a big important challenge, right? And then I thought about Dr. St. Gupta's keynote this morning, because I've seen it before at another conference. And she's talking about air pollution and the way that her research should help out with this air pollution. And I thought, perhaps there's an air pollution problem in India as there is almost everywhere. So perhaps that is a big important challenge. Now I know maybe some of you are sitting, oh, I really would have liked in this design sprint with I know to create a little app about all the restaurants in India. Or I would really have liked a weather app. Or I would like a new feature on my car system. But I decided to work on an idea instead. But it is the same that you're doing. It's the same movements you're doing, whether it's a software system or an idea. So what we try to do on day one is that we hear from different experts. So we have invited people who knows about this problem. It could be people who know about the problem and people who tried solving it in different ways. And you listen to these experts. And while you do that, you write these, how might we know? But you also create the sprint questions. So what questions do we want to have answered? So instead of saying, we want to create this app. I can do this. We're trying to phrase it again as questions. We're saying, what is it that we want to learn? Because the design sprint is about learning as fast as you can. To meet our long-term goal, what needs to be true. And if the project fail, what might be the cause of that? So these are the things that you think about before you start. And now you will hear from some experts. But the experts is just snippets from newspapers I found online. So sources of air pollution in India are different. There's something from dust and construction, waste burning, transport, diesel generators, domestic cooking, but the biggest is from the industries or the other way around. Anyway, there's different things that goes into the air pollution in India. So that was very expertly said. Another expert said, what is the solution to deadly smoke problem? There's some moss that can eat air pollution. And I know that that's something that they use in Germany as well, that they have moss on the walls on the side of the road so that they eat the air pollution. And then another thing I read was that 13% of India's deaths could be attributed to bad air. Roughly 1.24 million people died in 2017 from India's air pollution. That seems really high. Does that make sense to you?  I don't know if that's better. So that was the experts that you just listened to. We tried to make this very short. And now the sprint questions. I also created the sprint questions for you. So what questions do we once have answered? Obviously, how do we get the air pollution in India down? To meet our long-term goal, what needs to be true? Well, we need to get only 10% people dying from bad air. This is the result that we want to see. If the projects fail, what might be the course of that? Lack of money for technology, culture change, amount of people being too late, perhaps. So these are the things that could make it impossible for us to get this long-term goal. And at this point in the design sprint, you would now organize the how might we notes. So you would imagine that everybody have been writing how might we notes like crazy. And you have a wall looking like this. And now we want to make groups of it and try to make meaning of it. So I tried to make some how might we notes yesterday evening. So it could be how might we remove the particles already in the air? How might we get vehicles to pollute less? How might we fund industries to research how to improve? How might we change transportation entirely? How might we make the industry pollute less?  How might we improve the way of domestic cooking? How might we get fewer vehicles and change the way waste is disposed? So these are some of the things that could come up in how might we. Now, the next point that you're doing Monday is that you create a map. You try to create a map with all the different participants in this scenario. And you also say what would be the solution of this. So what you do in the beginning is that you say, well, what are the different actors in this scenario? And I tried to talk about industry owners, drivers, researchers, and home cooks. So these would be the actors. So those are the ones you think about first. And then you think about what you want to achieve. And we want to achieve less pollution. So we try to make a map from the actors to the goal. And we try to come up with things that could happen. If it was a software system, it could be different kinds of users that are interacting with the system in different ways to achieve something. In this sense, it's an idea we're trying to achieve. Challenge we're trying to overcome. And then we're seeing, well, perhaps, understanding how to change transport is something that both the driver and the researcher could take part in. And then that would lead to less pollution. And what is important with creating a map is both the discussions that you have here. Because this is a way where you try to figure out if you understand it in the same way. So we're now doing the converging thing in the understanding days. So we had the diversion with all the different how might we and experts, but now we're trying to converge into an understanding that will give us a map that we can use to work on for the next days. And what's important also is to find the critical moment. So there'll be a lot of discussion about the critical moment. Can we make the industry understand that they can gain in the long run from having less pollution? Or it could be that plants can reduce bad air. That could be the critical moment. Or it could be that we understand how to change transport. And in normal cases there'll be a lot of discussion and this is where the decider comes in and says this is what we want to focus on. So for each table when you'll start working in a minute your decider will figure out what part of this map you will focus on on your little table in your design sprint. Because now we'll start sketching. So this is Tuesday morning already. We had a day in 10 minutes. I hope you enjoyed it. Especially the lunch was delicious. So in the Tuesday morning you start with something called lightning demos. And the lightning demos is interesting. The lightning demos is that other people, all the people in the design sprint come up with things that they want to show. They want to demo something that they like. So for instance, if you're building an app it could be that people show their favorite apps or explain why their apps are good showing it on a big screen. This is what you can do with this app. I really like this. And in this idea with the pollution perhaps they can show what they have done in other countries or perhaps they can show some research they've heard about that is just starting to take pace. So the lightning demos would show different ways of doing things.  And then also a thing that we will think about what we won't do is to recruit customers for Friday. Because Friday we will validate our prototypes and it's very important that we have actual customers not just our mothers or our daughters but actual customers and we need at least five to get a critical mass to look at our prototype. So what you will actually do is that you will have this four step sketching. And what we normally do is that we gather key info in 20 minutes we do the rough solutions in 20 minutes we try rapid variations in eight minutes and we figure out the details in 30 minutes. We don't have that kind of time so you have to be quick. So the first thing we do is that we gather key info and you've got only five minutes for that instead of 20. And what I want you to do in these five minutes is to take some sort of paper it could be like a small piece of paper or a posted note and you write down all the different information that you've heard about with India's air pollution but also things that you know not just something that's in the room but imagine in a normal design spring you'll walk around you look at the map you look at all the how might we notes you look at all the notes that you made from the experts and then you'll figure out what is it actually that I learned today so just write it down if you like text you just write text if you like pictures you just draw pictures nobody's going to look at this so it doesn't matter what it looks like. So I'll invite you to gather key info now in five minutes and I'll stop you after the five minutes individually on the tables. And there's more paper, printer paper up here. It could be the postage to old paper, it doesn't matter whatever you like. Yeah, you can take the information that I gave you but also if you have any more information find more information. Normally you would have a lot of information but we didn't really have time for that. No. If anybody has any questions for me just raise your hand and I'll walk over there. You have to think about the source or if we also come up with the solution. Just any notes. Anything. Anything, anything, yes. It could be things on the walls, things that I've said or anything that you remember. This is just to get all the information in your head down on the paper so you can make use of it later. Exactly, we actually need to like correct the problem. Good question. So it's everything that you can think about. So right now we just want to take everything that's in your head and put it down on a piece of paper because about air pollution. Yeah, it could be the problems but it could be the solutions, it could be anything.  Yeah, sorry. Question or so. How many hours do you think we choose one and then like the schedule? You choose one and then you think about all the things that relates to that but it could be things that doesn't relate to this particular point. What I want you to do right now is get the things out of your head down on paper so that you can make use of it later. So not only the notes but you can put solution ideas into the notes. What I want you to do is get everything out of your heads and down on paper. Brain down. Anything. That was five minutes and I got the same question everywhere so there was apparently something I forgot to say but to me the first thing about gathering the key info is about making a brain dump because you know the working part of your brain can only think about four plus minus two things. It's not the seven plus minus two things anymore because the young people have, I don't know what happened anyway. So you can only have a very few things and you're working memory and you want that down on paper so that when you go to the next step you can use the working memory and then just look at the paper. Make sense? Good. So the next part, you'll have 10 minutes for this. This is where you will doodle the rough solutions again. It is individually. Again, nobody needs to see it. It can be as expressive or ugly as you want it to be. Again, it could be pictures. It could be text but now you are focusing on the solutions and the gathering key info you are focusing on everything but now you're trying to focus on solutions. Sketch anything that could be a solution and I would prefer if you used a piece of paper that was bigger than a post-it note but smaller than the big one. So either you get some of these or perhaps you have your own pieces of paper. So does anybody need this? Are there any questions before we start this doodle rough solutions? So now it's still individually. Still individually. I mean, it's okay if you talk to each other but you don't have to be in agreement. It's your individual ones. Hm? Is this still a private version? Yep. All these four sketches are in a diversion for everything and there's a little bit of conversion but that's individual at the end. Do you have paper? Sorry, it's the time in Romania. I borrowed this computer from another speaker. I don't know how to turn that off. Now you know the time in Romania if you understand Romania. And if anybody is done, they can spend the last two minutes helping the other team members by taking a piece of paper like this for each team member and folding it so that you have eight little squares. Only if you're done like this. Every team member, yeah. I've got two here if somebody wants it. Do you know how to do it? A fresh piece of paper. Fresh piece of paper for everybody, not the one that you already sketched on. It has to look like this. So it's three folds. Two to the third squares it gives. Mathematically. I'll give you a few minutes just to fold before I go on. Perhaps the tables where everybody has a folded piece of paper the decider can stand up so that I can assess how far you are. One table ready, two, three, four.  Right. Okay. So the next step is supposed to be stressful and today we'll make it even more stressful. So normally you'll have eight minutes to make eight sketches, right? So you look at all your own rough solutions. Again, this is individually. You look at all your own rough solutions and you'll perhaps pick one or two and then you'll make variations on that one. So you'll take one of your ideas or two of your ideas and you'll make very rapid variations of that one. And each variation should be in a little rectangle here on the piece of paper. So here's perhaps the original one and there's a variation, variation, variation, variation and see how far you can get in four minutes. Nobody needs to see this. So it can be again really ugly, right? I'll start the time. Sorry. One solution in each rectangle. So you choose one of your ideas, one of your solution ideas and you make variations on that or you choose two and make variations on that. Yeah, the same solution, many variations. And the time will start now, four minutes. But again, it's individually. Individually. Okay, that was four minutes. I hope you're sweating a little bit because that's sort of part of the exercise. So these were what they call the crazy age but it was crazy force today. The next step is that you need a piece of paper looking like this. If you do not have a blank piece of paper looking like this, you better get it, okay? Now this is where we normally have 30 minutes or perhaps more. Sometimes people get a little more time because they need more time. It's sort of the facilitator's role to look at how people are doing and if they're still frantically writing and drawing then give them a little bit of time because this is the one that other people should see. So you should do your best with this one. You don't have to be very good at drawing. It's okay just to sketch something and to come up with some text but this is the important piece of paper for the next day because this is actually your solution sketch.  And this is the piece of paper that other people should see and this is a piece of paper you will be using when you're figuring out what to actually do in your solution to the challenge or to create the app or the system. So it's very important that you give it a title. It should be anonymous but you don't have to put your name on it but give it a title so that it's easy to discuss it and people can point at it and say well, Peter's coffee shop or Anna's really weird idea or whatever, just put some name on it. Well, sorry, a title on it. And what is important then is that you draw it out like different steps. So perhaps your solution is just one big thing but it could also be in this case, for instance, creating awareness, trying to figure out what to do about it or doing something actual about it.  So if there are any questions, we might as well take them and plan them before we start. Any questions about this? Yes? One solution, but it could be different steps. So if it was an app or a system, it would be like different windows of the system. In this case, with solving the air pollution idea, it would be different steps in solving the air pollution. But it's one solution. Sorry, one solution per person, this is still individual and then tomorrow, which is in about 15 minutes, you will be evaluating each other's ideas but right now it's only your idea, individual idea. Don't look at anybody else's ideas right now. This is still you. One of the eights, yes, thank you. No criteria for the idea. It can also be a crazy, insane idea that cannot be implemented because these ideas, when you decide what's a prototype, you just take the things that you can implement. Does it make sense? So you can just dream. 10 minutes starts now. I want to use it in your service. Is there any help? Sorry, can you say that again? You want to leverage, already existing some of the solutions and you want to implement it in your, whatever, the solution that's going in here. Yeah. Is that, the solution is already existing when you're trying to leverage it for your... Yeah, yeah, definitely, yeah. And you know the solution, the only thing you need is an immediate implementation. Yeah, sometimes that is where it is. Sometimes it can be a very innovative, wonderful idea and sometimes it turns out that the best thing to do is a variation to what you already have or implementation of somebody else's solution. And of course, then you think that's sad, but it's still making a solution to a problem. It's not always fantastic, new, innovative ideas. Yeah, so you know, based on the research, they are existing, what you haven't, still you want to use it. So in that case, you won't be thinking much where it is, but you'll be thinking about feasible that kind of thing. Yeah, so you make something that you think you'd like to have and then the next step, we figure out what is feasible. Makes sense? It's structured like this, basically the key which is produce the high oxygen and heat and carbon dioxide and it's needed. Yeah, and what's the title? Do you have a title? I'll just talk a little bit while you're putting the last details on your sketch. Remember to have a title for it. Call it the smart city or whatever you want. No more air pollution or must for the win. What I want to say about this with the sketching because so Tuesday is almost done. And as I said in the beginning, I really like the science prints because the brainstorming is different than I normally see. I've been to a lot of innovation workshops with developers and other people and then we have the brainstorm about solutions to problems, but unfortunately, it is only what is happening in their heads and they like to make really good solutions. So there's some things about the design sprint that differs and one thing is that you listen to the experts, you look at what other people have done and you start with the questions instead of the answers. And then what you do in the sketching is also interesting because you force people to make variations of an idea very rapidly and forcing people to make rapid variations of an idea means that the part of their brain that are saying this is not a good idea, it doesn't have time to set in. So the rapid variations is very interesting in not allowing the brain to stop you from being creative. So those are the parts I really like about the design sprint. Then I had some different questions walking around and one question was, what if what I come up with is just what other people have done already and this is just us implementing it in our own way? Well, of course, sometimes you have a design sprint that does not change the world, that is not hyper innovative, that is not like a brand new idea that nobody saw before, but that is actually as I said before, part of a design sprint because you cannot expect those bright ideas to pop up like every month. So you have to accept, and I think that's part of it, that a lot of the ideas that you have are actually just variations of things you've already seen and now you try to implement it in a new way. And I think embracing that is also very important actually. Right, so that was Tuesday and we're going out to have a nice dinner together and as usual I'll have too many gin and tonics and now it's Wednesday morning and I'm a bit tired and that's unfortunate because today is really a hard day as well. So today is the second converging where we're trying to decide what is the idea that we want to work on Thursday, what is the idea that we want to validate with the users Friday. So for those of you who just arrived, you just find the table to sit at unless you want to be able to run out again, it's okay to stand down there. I know that feeling. So what we're doing Wednesday is that we're going through a lot of motions. I'm just going to go through them very rapidly now and then we're going to delve into them and these are the things that you will also be doing today. So the first thing that you'll do is an art museum where you'll share the ideas and hopefully the solution that you created is something that other people can read or at least make meaning of because first you'll have something called a heat map where you'll need these dots down here. So the red dots are for the deciders. All the deciders get one dot and these black dots are for everybody else. So everybody, also the deciders, get one of these. Hope I have enough otherwise I've got more. So then you have the speed critique and the speed critique is interesting because you very, very rapidly give critique to somebody's solution but while you're giving critique they cannot say anything. It's like a writer's workshop where they have to be quiet because if you're writing a poem or a novel you're not there to tell the reader no, what I actually meant with this, with this. So you have to be quiet as the author and listen to other people's critique because it has to stand on its own legs. Then you have a straw poll then you try to decide what you want to go on with and again the decider has the biggest vote, the decider has the super vote and then you make a storyboard and the big pieces of paper for the storyboard will make at the end of the day and now we'll go into these different things and you'll have very short time to do each of them. So take a deep breath. First, create the art museum. What you normally do is that right before we start Wednesday you put up all the solution ideas on the wall so that you have like a louvre or an art museum where you can walk around and look like an edit. We cannot do that today. So the art museum I thought is that you just pass on your solution sketch to the next one and then hopefully in 10 minutes you will have looked at all the solution sketches that you have on the table. So again, just to give me an assessment, I've said 10 minutes, but that's like, that's I know 10 minutes. I'm always cheating with the minutes. I'm hoping you're not looking at the watch. So when your group have seen all the solution sketches please could the decider stand up again so that I can see when you're done. So you have now 10 minutes to pass all the solution sketches around. Don't talk about them because they should be on their own. Just look at them. So the only thing you can say is that if you cannot read what other people have written you can ask what it actually says, okay? That's the only thing. Just a little bit there. Yeah, so question, do I need to write? Any questions? No, just look at them and only ask a question if you actually cannot read what it says, then it's okay to read it aloud. That's it, that's how we all know. So yeah, you don't like it, right? Yeah, I'm following my schedule. It's hard. Yes, yeah, but I gotta watch out there. Thank you. Did you take some of these? Did you take some of these already? No, just take two. Just take a whole bottle. Just take a whole bottle. One for the decider. So all the deciders stand up at the tables where you've seen everything. You've seen everything. You've seen everything, you've seen everything. You've seen everything. Who's still struggling? Perhaps it's easier to ask that question. Thank you. Now, let's pretend you've been through the art museum. Now, as I said, for everybody, including the decider, you can take the black dots and put a black dot on what you like. It doesn't have to be a black dot for the whole solution sketch. It could be just a little part of the solution sketch that you like. So that's why it says, find a good point, not find a good solution. Find a good point. And if you're really keen on giving more points, you can do that. I've got more of these black ones up here, okay? But the red ones are for the deciders later. Well, so normally you get as many points as you need, but today I say just at least one. Red ones? Yeah, I'll get some more red ones. Something like this. Is that okay? Do you know this? Just take some of it. You don't have to agree on this. This is individually. So everybody gets at least one black and the decider gets a red. You didn't get any red dots. Does somebody have an extra red dot for this table? You only need one red dot for each table? Can you just take one red dot? One, two, so as a decider, I have to choose one solution. They don't like it. Sorry? So as a decider, I have to look around. And then, yeah. So you work with black dots as everybody else and then you have one super vote that you put there. Okay. So as a decider, we need to select. Then that idea can be selected. Yeah. Did that work? It looks like it. Okay. Are you sort of done? Sort of done. So the next step is the speed critique. And I'm just gonna, yeah, question? What was the question? The combination of two. Yeah, that's fine. You don't have to decide yet. So what happened here? What happened here was that you looked at the different points of the solutions. You are not supposed, you're not supposed to have decided on one solution right now. Could ask the corners to be a bit quiet. So you're not supposed, if you're thinking right now but we don't have like a unanimous solution, that is quite fine. That is not where you should be right now. Right now you should have some solution sketches with some black dots and one red dot where you can see what people are thinking right now. Okay? So it's just like a heat map, trying to figure out where you are. The next step is what is called the speed critique. And normally you have 10 minutes for each of the ideas. You have 10 minutes for as many as you have time for. So I'll stop you after 10 minutes. But so the point is that perhaps you should choose to look at the one with the most votes for a start and then the next most votes because you won't be able to get through all of them. And the speed critique is everybody can say something about this idea. It can be positive, it can be negative, it can be questions, but the author must stay silent. Cannot say anything. And then when the others invite the author in, the author can say, what I actually meant was this and this is the answer to the question and the problem that you pointed out here I actually remedied with this or they could just say thank you. I got so much wiser, okay? So this is difficult and you have 10 minutes and maybe you'll make only one, maybe you'll make two. Are you ready? Good, go ahead. Is it on a solution itself of the way how it is presented? It's difficult to take those apart right now. Yeah, the solution prefer me. This idea is for the new city or existing city we can make a better pollution index. It is the new one, actually what I think I have to create it on, I just indicated when I am going to create one city, it will develop the city. Then it should be the modern. Yeah, so we have a little project you'll do it in one city and make that a model and then other people can look at that and you can evaluate after that city, is that what you meant? Mostly I see the people are creating the existing one so they are trying to make a better transportation. Yeah, but you'd like to start from scratch? Whatever you will do, technology wise it is good, I'm not talking about that. We also focus on the nature, the nature and resources. So we should have ventilation in the city like what we are using in the world. So created plants in the proper gap between the cones and roads and waterways. We create the water places earlier in the old days when cities built up like that. Yeah, that is the way it should be done. One minute more, okay. One more minute. So we have to figure out how do we go about doing this thing now. So my understanding and I'm sure I could be wrong there is that we have got this board. We have put the votes around as to what is from an understanding perspective what would be the most appropriate solution. So the critics have gone ahead and spoken about why or why not it is relevant. So what is the role of the person who has actually formulated or authored this? So what does he expect it to do?  Ask questions or answer? Answer afterwards. But when you're... Defend or explain? No, just ask or answer them.  Okay, I know you'd like more time and that is wonderful, but you also want to eat, right? So I really love being in India. People actually talk to each other. You should try coming to Denmark. You'll be the only one talking. So this speech critique, just to debrief the exercise because I talked to some of you about it, the important thing about the speech critique is that the ideas stand on their own. So the author of the ideas cannot protect the idea or defend the idea while she or he is getting critiqued. The author is quiet. And only after the critique from the others is done, the author is invited in to protect or answer questions or defend. So that is the point of it. Now, I know that we are only pretending that you've done speech critique on all of them, but I will still ask you to vote. You'll have about three minutes. I put some blue dots around. Everybody in the team gets one blue dot. I'll talk about the decider dot later. Everybody should get one blue dot. And then you put the dot on the solution that you think is the best. If you cannot choose a solution, it can be part of a solution. Question? What if there is something good in more than one solution? What if the actual solution would be like a combination of parts of the different solutions? It's a very good question. And what happens is that after we have decided you will be creating a storyboard, and that storyboard will be your combined solution. And for making the storyboard, that's a big piece of paper. You're looking at all the different solutions or different parts of solutions that you like, and then you create a combined solution from that. Does that make sense? Did I answer your question? Good. But for now, just take one blue dot each and put it on the solution or the idea that you like the most. Okay, so now you've all put one blue dot. Now I want the deciders to come up here and take a green dot. You need some exercise. Take one green dot here. All deciders, will you hand them out to the deciders? Everybody come to this man and take a green dot. And then the decider gets again a super vote. Yes? Earlier we did some voting. Now why are we voting again? Interesting question. Why are we voting again? So the first vote was based on what you could see without talking to the author, just taking it from outside, just initially what you liked. And now you've had the art museum and you've had the speed critique, and now you know a little bit more about the author's idea, and now you get to vote again with different mindset, with different knowledge. And the interesting thing is to get the initial vote and then see it together with the vote after the speed critique. Does that make sense? Yeah? Yes, so I will give the slide deck to the conference and you'll be able to get it some way. I don't know why, how, but that's what they told me. And I will also say that if you want to create a slide deck that is even prettier than mine, yeah, that's got your attention, right? If you want to create a slide deck that's even prettier than mine, you either buy this book and follow the link or you just cheat. And without buying this book, you go to the Design Sprint book online and then you can download PowerPoint slides or Keynote slides or PDFs. I didn't write the book, but I know there's more questions, but we have 14 minutes left. So now it's time to create the storyboard. I have mentioned the storyboard at times, and so you have to take a big piece of paper and now you combine together the solutions that you have. It could be that you have one solution that you just flesh out or it could be that you have a number of solutions that you put there. And you can either start from scratch on this and draw everything or you can take the post-it notes that you have and put them on or you can take pieces of paper and put them on in all sorts of creative ways. Some people do a 3D version of a story map. You can do whatever you want. And you start now. What we mean with a storyboard is that you put all the different stories together to make a big story. But it's the same, so I'm just going to say it. So normally when you make a storyboard for a solution it could be like, this is what the computer shows right now, this is what the user does, but it could also be like user stories that you put together. And in this case, when having a challenge and trying to solve it, what you probably do is that you'll say, this is the first step for implementing this, this is the second step for implementing this. Yeah. Well, in this case, normally it wouldn't be how to implement the software systems. But in this case, when it's like creating awareness, how do you execute it? How do you create awareness? Not normally, no. When I say implementing here, I mean, how do you actually take these ideas and create them? I don't know how you get the PowerPoint from the conference. Perhaps you get an email or something like that. But you can also, I mean, if you just look for the sprint book online then there's a link to PowerPoint. Not mine, but theirs. Yep. I am truly sorry that I have to stop your communications again. So the storyboard would now be at a state where you would start to figure out how to actually implement it. To some of the people I said, for this idea, you will make a storyboard of how to implement it. When I say implement it in this, I don't mean, like, implement it in software. Normally if we were doing a software system, we wouldn't be thinking about implementation of the software system. So the prototype is what will do the implementation, actually, on the fourth day. So now it is Thursday morning. And you have nothing more to do in this session because we only have five minutes left. So I'll take the last two days in five minutes. So what you do on the fourth day is that you pick the right tools. And picking the right tools could be, for instance, for this idea, picking the right tools would be perhaps we write it down, perhaps we make a PowerPoint to inspire people. And then you divide and conquer who can do this, who can do that. Then we make an actual prototype and we test it along the way, the functionality test. And then we prepare the interviews for the Friday. So we create a script and we make sure to have gifts to give people. So we decide how to build the prototype and it could be like you make an actual app or it could be some sort of very shallow implementation of the system. It is only a prototype, so it's only made for something to learn. But the important thing here is that it's not enough just to have pieces of paper. You need to show something to the users Friday that looks like what you want to do. So in our case with the prototype it could be actual letters to the government or actual posters to hang on the walls or something like that, whatever your solutions have been. And then in parallel you'll both prototype and test the design. So that was Thursday. And Friday you validate it. And what you do here is that you have two rooms. You have one room where at least five different users are looking at your idea. In your case it could be researchers, somebody from industry, somebody from the government, somebody like normal citizens, anything that could look at your ideas. And then you have video so that there will be one interviewing the user and then everybody else will look at the reactions over video from a different room so that you're not all oakling that poor test person. Five is the magic number, you need at least five. And it should be a five act interview. In the design sprint book there's a very thorough description of how to create a user interview. You probably have your own ideas, they have a very firm idea as well. Remember to take notes, remember to look for patterns. This person said this and this person said this and maybe on the surface they look like they're different things but they are actually a pattern that's going on. And then you wrap up at the end of the day and you look at all the patterns, you look at all the answers, you look at all the notes and you say well, this worked, this didn't work. So the future is we will focus on this part and we'll start Monday and these people will be part of it. So you'll make a plan during your wrap-up. And what you have for the usability testing is that you should have the complete storyboard, you should have identified five key moments, I didn't have time to get into that. But you probably understand that we'll have to focus on things high fidelity mocks for those moments and partially build quick prototypes. And the important thing I think also in the design sprint when looking at the users is not to get feedback. So you're not just asking what do you think of this? How do you like the color of this? Can you work with this? But the important thing is to show them something that is real or as real as possible and look at the reactions and that's why the video is important and that's why it's important to take notes because you're not just asking them, you're looking at real people's reactions to your realistic prototypes. So that was the five days design sprint and of course as always whenever you do anything you should review it and what I'd like you to do now silently, individually is think about for 30 seconds what you got out of these 90 minutes together with the design sprint.  So just think about it for 30 seconds. Yeah, so Romanian time again. And that means that now you will spend 30 seconds talking to the other people at the table just sharing what did you get out of this? What is your takeaway? It's okay if you just share it with your neighbor if you have a lot of people on the table. 30 seconds to share very shortly. If you want to check with this whole thing, how does it fit into the standard development life cycle of software because it is something like a separate thing. Yeah, it is a separate thing, yeah. So what we do, I've been at eBay in Denmark implementing this and what we do is that if somebody's got an idea, that's like a big idea, instead of just brainstorming normally and making OKRs and putting it into the scrum sprints, what we do is that we say this is actually a big thing. We need to make the design sprint first and sometimes what we get in those design sprints, it's some really good prototypes and we get good evaluations. But I've also tried sometimes that after the first two days we understand that we don't know enough to solve this problem. And then some people say, well, you wasted two days, but actually we gained a lot of time because normally we would just have started, but very fast. Thank you for your time. Before we stop, I want to say that those of you who want to play the icebreaker game that I mentioned in the beginning, join me up there. But I'll just say thank you for your time and enjoy the holiday.


Hello everyone. Welcome to another International Relations capsule for the Shankar IAS Academy. Today our topic is the recent visit to Washington of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This has been characterized as the beginning of a new chapter in India-U.S. relations. This is not the first time that visits have been characterized like that. Even before, there have been important visits at the highest level between the two countries, which appeared to create new chapters. But then, India-U.S. relations have never been very steady. It is often compared to a roller coaster ride. So, between these successful visits, there have always also been differences of opinion and sometimes difficulty of understanding each other. So, this particular visit has been characterized as historic because it attained several objectives, which were very important for both the countries. But it has become important also because just before, a few weeks before the visit, the situation between the two countries was not so good. There are two major problems. First was the question of India's position on the Russia-Ukraine war. India did not condemn Russia and continued to import oil, etc., from Russia and thus creating the impression that India was not observed with the sanctions, which were imposed by the West from Russia. There were reasons for it and we took a rather neutral position. But at the same time, the Prime Minister of India made it very clear that this is not the time for war and there must be peace. The West was not happy with India's position because they kept saying, but how can a democracy like India support an invasion of sovereignty, an invasion of another country and also continuing war, etc. Over a period of time, the Westerners have come to realize that perhaps the Indian position had helped India to play some kind of a role in bringing about a resolution of the conflict. This has not happened, but during the G20 meeting in Bali, there was one common statement which was accepted by both the sides, both the United States and Russia. And the President of the United States in fact mentioned that it was Mr Modi's active support that led to this understanding in the Bali meeting. So, which means the criticism of India's position was torn down at some point. The other issue between India and the United States was that the US position that India had ceased to be a democracy. Very leading intellectuals, politicians, NGOs, etc. started saying that the treatment of minorities in India was of great concern to them and they were afraid that India was not following democratic norms. So this went on, they kept saying that India's position was not favorable to democracy and also that democracy itself is in danger in the United States. So in this atmosphere, a visit was not possible. Normally, when a new president takes over in the United States, the Indian Prime Minister visits in the first year. This time it happened only in the fourth year because also the prediction that Prime Minister Modi had made that the next government would be a Trump government when he was in Houston. So that also the Democrats were a little upset about it. For these reasons, such a meeting did not take place before. Then why did it, how did it take place now? And that also is quite clear. Both India and the United States are getting more and more concerned about the posture of China vis-à-vis these two countries. In 2020, you all know that the occupied positions on our side of the line of actual control in Mildadak and the Chinese have not completely withdrawn. So they have withdrawn some sectors. Some sectors, they are still sitting there and there is no de-escalation of tensions and the issue continues. Of course, negotiations are taking place, things are moving here and there, but no solution. And that is of concern to us because though they have pledged to, you know, not to aggravate the prices, but we cannot rest till they have withdrawn from the original positions. So India has been in the forefront waiting for the Chinese to withdraw. At the same time, the relations between the United States and China also deteriorated. You heard about the balloon incident. The Americans shot down a spy balloon of Russia which was flying over the United States, which led to some exchanges as to how this happened and what happened, etc. And that brought the U.S.-China relationship skill further down. And then efforts were made to normalize relations and China resisted, first of all in its position that it is with Russia on the grain war. And they also expected Russia to support China if there was any conflict in Taiwan or any other area of interest to China. So all these on both sides, on India's side as well as on the U.S. side, there was considerable concern about the Chinese position. And the agreement that was signed between China and Russia last year was also of great concern because they had said that they would unconditionally support each other in any kind of conflict. Then just before the visit, the State Department, Secretary of State, went to Beijing, even went to Jinping. But what he claimed after the visit was simply that this visit has been able to stabilize the relationship between U.S. and China, not making it any better. So they also had their concern. And so the United States was wanting to keep India on its side in this whole question of peace in the Indian Ocean region. And they were not able to extend all the support to India, the arms, ammunition, money, etc. to India because India refused to accept that Quad, the group of four countries, was a military alliance. India refused to accept it as a military alliance. They said it's only a dialogue. And therefore the United States could not equip India to meet with the Chinese threat if it becomes necessary. So, but United States changed its mind and offered to India that if India was willing, they were willing to, they were also willing to give an exception to the rule that these arms and movements and technologies will only go to allies. So, in other words, they made an exception that even if India is not an ally, it will be given the same treatment that other allies of the United States would get in terms of technology, manufacturing and various other things which are required to strengthen the defense of India. So, then it appeared during those three days that he was in the United States. Minister Modi gave a lot of support and he signed agreements, reached understandings on very many issues. In fact, the whole range. But the most important aspect of the visit was that some exceptional technology, defense related technology was pledged to India, particularly the jet engines required for our aircraft to be manufactured in India because it is a general electric and HIL contract and also it requires congressional approval but still in principle between the two heads of state it was agreed that this would be made available. And this is exceptional because this kind of jet engines are not provided to countries which are not. It's called the GE414, you must have heard about it. This is meant for our aircraft LCA-MC2. So, this is the one which attracted the most attention and the general electric and the HIL have already signed some kind of an understanding. Then there was a major agreement on space between ISRO and NASA including human space flights. As you know, India has been planning and preparing for a man flight to the moon or to the space at least. And this needs more support. So, there is an agreement called Artemis Agreement or Artemis Accord for the United States to support space activities to other countries. So, we have not signed it. Now we have agreed to sign it which means we have a quantum jump in cooperation between India and the United States in space technology. So, basically, technology or defense-related technology is now available to India without India being alive in the United States. Just as in 2005 and up to 2008 the United States agreed that even if India has not signed the NPT India will be given nuclear technology. So, this is very similar, almost history repeating itself. The United States was unable to supply equipment and nuclear material to India because India had not signed the NPT and we are not willing to sign also. But they decided that regardless of that we will support India because of its importance, increasing importance in the world and so the nuclear deal was signed. But nuclear deal we also know that it was not fully successful because India's liability law we have discussed with many times. So, similar problems could arise even in this case because some of these need approval at high levels like the accommodation level etc. and availability and so on. But this has been accomplished. Then in other areas like climate change, supply chains very many smaller agreements have also been reached and the cooperation and the confidence between the two countries in defense has been demonstrated by the fact that each country will be able to send a liaison officer to the other countries military intelligence. This is exceptional because unless you trust somebody completely you will not allow a foreign government to keep a liaison officer in one of the laboratories or at the headquarters. So, this is something very significant and India will also allow US experts to be appointed in our military establishments. So, from a situation where we could not even purchase some of these equipment before we are not a military ally. Now we have been given the facility like it happened in the case of the nuclear deal. Facility to require or purchase any of these restricted weapons. How did they deal with the Ukraine situation? Of course in the joint statement there is no specific reference to India's position but one thing which is common is that there are consequences for the Ukraine war particularly for developing countries and therefore the war should end. And also the two countries agreed as before that they will be willing to give humanitarian assistance to Russia and to Ukraine. These are very common points which already existed that has been formalized. Then smaller things like visa because technology cooperation is improving and you have to technology cooperation brewing. The Indian technologies have to go to the United States. So, the visa is required various kinds of visa particularly H1 visa which is a professional visa. Now there are many restrictions and even generally on US visa there are many restrictions in India. There is a long backlog. So, the both the presidents decided that this should be corrected and more facilities should be provided. And one decision taken is that the United States will open consulates in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Bangalore and Hyderabad are the high tech cities in India and the presence of the American consulate in these countries. These countries will naturally enhance cooperation among us. The second issue about India's position, India's democracy about which there were complained 70 congressional members wrote to the president saying that this should be erased Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that our the questions relating to Indian democracy can be also clarified. And to make matters worse at that particular point Barack Obama, the former president of the United States and also great friend of Mr. Modi issued a statement at the time of the visit of the Prime Minister that if he got a chance to speak to the Prime Minister of India he would have told him that if minority rights are not protected in India India is likely to fall apart. Very serious statement he made. People do not know why he let that particular time but this was a real provocation and that too by Mr. Obama who has visited India twice as president. Only US president who has visited India twice and who created the Quad itself through cooperation in the introduction. So a person like that to speak of India breaking up and so on was a little bit too much and that is why our finance minister said Mr. Barack Obama should remember that he had born six Arab countries is talking about minority rights of Muslims in India and he is the man who bombed six Arab countries for one reason or the other. So that was a rather unpleasant experience. And also Mr. Modi was asked a question about democracy in India and he agreed to answer that because he normally does not entertain questions even in India but in order to please the Americans and to remove any fears that they may have about democratic situation he agreed to answer a question and the question was raised by the Wall Street Journal correspondent and Mr. Modi gave the right answer. The answer being that the Indian constitution provides very quality fraternity and liberty and that's a code system, there is a very active press all is ensured that no government can violate human rights of other people and we put it very forcefully and there was no further question. So this is how the whole thing has been set up. So it is very clear that the United States decided to offer this equipment to us and we decided to accept it, both are very courageous steps and so that is why we say that this is a new chapter in India-U.S. relations and though there have been such new chapters earlier so this new words could be found in 2016 Mr. Modi said in the U.S. Congress that there will be a new symphony in India-U.S. relations. The orchestra is the same but they will play new music he said but after that we have had several problems with the United States itself. So all these have been forgiven and forgotten and we now proceed to negotiate all these deals sign them, meet the legal objections if there are any and then proceed. This is being seen in the world that is the most significance of this, the significance of this particular new chapter is that this is seen as the first step being taken by the United States in India to shape a new world order because at the moment there is no world order, UN is not functioning properly everybody is doing the sonic zone, there is no international cooperation so when all that is there, so it will be necessary to start a new world order so by India and the United States consciously deciding despite all the issues that they will stand together in the future is a clear signal that they are not with China and Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan so a clear division between the autocrats and democrats was expected but that division came about in a particular way in this visit because regardless of the provisions or the policies of the United States and India in other respects they decided that they will have a common future through technology and defence cooperation and defence cooperation being most important in the face of fear of China in India so this has been an exceptional visit India has gained considerably in terms of technology and other benefits and the United States itself will benefit if India is with the United States and therefore both sides are happy because no side was happy during this period that nobody was happy with this position everyone wanted a new world so here two countries have taken the lead, two important countries have taken the lead to give a signal that this will be the kind of role that these countries will play and that has been the biggest achievement of course it remains to be seen as to how much of these will be delivered and therefore both sides will have to be very very cautious in approaching these discussions and finally enabling us to fulfill the concerns of the two countries so this has been a great visit not only in terms of substance but also in symbolism there was a lot of pomp and honour they were very friendly and this visit was called state visit even though Mr Modi is only a Prime Minister and the President cannot give a state visit to Prime Ministers normally so that's why they call it official state visit and since Biden came for only three prime presidents or prime ministers have been given a state visit that is France, South Korea and India so our status in the international community besides the United States has also been raised but like in other cases we hope it will not happen that these contracts will not be materialized or not there is some concern about that but still the commitment is there and there will certainly be a good equation between the two countries even though such situations have developed in the past and it has still been a roller coaster ride but let us hope that this visit and the outcome of it will mark a new beginning in the US relations and will not be pushed into taking positions on various issues we will stay together regardless of these issues and that's a major change in the US relations thank you