How Our Team Uses Focus Sprints for Deep Work

We're a six-person design studio in Berlin. We make brand identities, packaging, and the occasional website. The work demands deep concentration — you can't design a typeface in the fifteen minutes between Slack pings. But like most small teams, our days were sliced into meetings, messages, and context switches.

Last November, one of our designers started using Kokoon for personal focus sessions. Within a week, the rest of the team had downloaded it. Not because we mandated it — because they kept showing each other their creatures during lunch.

The ritual

We now do what we call "sprint blocks." Every afternoon from 2:00 to 4:30, we run focus sessions. No meetings, no Slack, no interruptions. Everyone opens Kokoon, starts a 45-minute timer, and works. When the timer ends, there's a brief moment where everyone checks what they hatched. Then we either start another session or take a short break.

It sounds almost silly when you describe it. Six adults, excited about virtual creatures. But the effect on our output has been substantial.

What changed

Before sprint blocks, our afternoons were the least productive part of the day. Post-lunch sluggishness, combined with the accumulated interruptions of the morning, meant that real design work often didn't happen until late afternoon — if at all.

Now, we consistently get two to three hours of uninterrupted deep work every afternoon. That's not just better — it's transformative. Complex projects that used to take weeks started finishing in days. Not because we're working more hours, but because the hours we work are actually focused.

The timer gives everyone permission to ignore messages. Before, there was always the guilt of not responding immediately. Now, if someone's in a sprint, everyone knows to wait. — Mara, Lead Designer

The social layer

What we didn't expect was the social dynamic. Kokoon is an individual app — there's no team feature or shared leaderboard. But our team created one organically. We have a shared Slack channel where people post screenshots of rare hatches. When someone gets a legendary creature, it gets a reaction flood.

This social element does two things. First, it creates gentle peer motivation. When you see a colleague post their third session of the day, you're more likely to start your own. Second, it makes focus time visible. In most workplaces, deep work is invisible — no one sees you concentrating. But a growing creature collection is proof of sustained effort.

Tips for teams

Protect the block. The sprint only works if it's truly uninterrupted. We moved all client calls to mornings and set Slack to DND during sprint hours.

Keep it voluntary. We don't track who does how many sessions. The moment it becomes mandatory, it stops being motivating. People participate because they want to, and that's why it works.

Start with 45 minutes. For team settings, 45-minute sessions work better than 25. They're long enough for meaningful deep work but short enough to do two or three in an afternoon.

Celebrate together. A shared channel for rare hatches sounds trivial, but it builds a culture where focus is celebrated rather than just expected.

Five months in, sprint blocks are the most protected time on our calendar. We've shipped more work in this period than any comparable stretch. The creatures are fun, but the real reward is the work we've made possible.