Design Sprint

Design Sprint Framework

A five-day process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers. Developed at Google Ventures and used by Google, Slack, Airbnb, and hundreds of startups.

Core Principle

Compress months of debate, design, and testing into one week — and test with real users before writing any production code. The sprint replaces endless discussion with a fixed Monday-to-Friday spine, hard time-boxes, and a single Decider, so a high-stakes product question gets a real answer in five days instead of five months.

Scoring

Goal: 10/10. Score a sprint plan or execution by awarding 1 point for each item present and correct (10 total). Report the score and the missing items needed to reach 10/10.

1. Decider committed for the full week; one Sprint Master facilitating.
2. Monday produces a target customer and moment (not a vague "test the product").
3. Hard time-boxes used (Crazy 8s in 8 min, 10am-5pm days, no open-ended sessions).
4. Solution sketches done alone and anonymous — no group brainstorming.
5. Wednesday ends with a single Decider Supervote, not consensus.
6. Storyboard specified before any prototype is built.
7. Prototype is a Goldilocks-fidelity facade, testable in 5-15 min, with a trial run done.
8. Exactly 5 target users recruited via screener (6 scheduled to absorb a no-show).
9. Friday uses the Five-Act Interview; users interpret the prototype unexplained.
10. End-of-sprint debrief converts the +/-/~ pattern grid into a decision on next steps.

A plan missing the Decider, real users, or a same-day prototype caps at 6 — those are the failure modes the sprint exists to prevent.

The 5-Day Sprint Process

Monday → Tuesday → Wednesday → Thursday → Friday
  Map      Sketch     Decide      Prototype    Test

Prerequisites: a big challenge worth a week's focus; the right team (Decider plus 4-7 people with diverse expertise); five full days (10am-5pm) with no interruptions; a dedicated room with whiteboards. One Sprint Master facilitates, keeps time, and manages energy.

See references/facilitation.md when you are the Sprint Master — it has the full facilitation guide, time-boxing tactics, and energy-management moves for keeping a stuck or low-energy room productive.

Monday: Map

Goal: Understand the problem and choose a target for the week.

Morning: Start at the End

• Long-term goal: Write the optimistic answer to "What do we want to be true in 2 years?" — e.g., "Customers use our product daily."
• Sprint questions: List obstacles and unknowns as questions on the whiteboard, whole team contributing — e.g., "Will customers trust us with payment info?"

Afternoon: Map the Challenge

• Customer journey map: List the actors (customer types), then draw the journey left to right in 5-15 steps: "Hears about product → Visits site → Signs up → First use → Regular user."
• Ask the Experts: Interview teammates with specialized knowledge (CEO, design, engineering, support, sales); capture notes on the whiteboard.
• How Might We (HMW): Rephrase problems as opportunities — "Customers don't understand pricing" → "HMW make pricing immediately clear?" One per sticky note; vote and organize the best on the map.

End of Day: Pick a Target

Choose which customer and moment on the map to focus on — the biggest risk or opportunity (e.g., "the first 10 minutes after signup"). The Decider (person with authority) makes the final call.

Monday output: long-term goal, sprint questions, journey map, expert insights, organized HMW notes, target customer and moment.

See references/monday.md while facilitating Monday — step-by-step exercise scripts, HMW examples, and the target-selection method.

Tuesday: Sketch

Goal: Generate solutions — each person sketches a detailed solution.

Morning: Lightning Demos

• Find inspiration: 3-minute demos of competitors and analogous products ("Here's what I found, here's why it's interesting"); capture good ideas on the whiteboard. Borrow from any industry.
• Divide or swarm: Split the map between people if it has multiple parts; otherwise everyone tackles the same critical problem (most sprints swarm).

Afternoon: The Four-Step Sketch

Everyone sketches alone — no group brainstorming. Individual work produces better, more diverse ideas.

1. Notes (20 min): Silently walk the room reviewing the map, HMWs, and inspiration.
2. Ideas (20 min): Rough doodles, mind maps, stick figures — quantity over quality.
3. Crazy 8s (8 min): Fold paper into 8 panels and sketch 8 variations in 8 minutes — forces you past your first idea.
4. Solution Sketch (30-90 min): A 3-panel storyboard of the customer experience (beginning, middle, end). Make it self-explanatory, give it a catchy title, and keep it anonymous.

Tuesday output: one detailed, anonymous, self-explanatory solution sketch per person.

See references/tuesday.md before the Four-Step Sketch — Crazy 8s and solution-sketch templates plus worked examples to show the team.

Wednesday: Decide

Goal: Critique solutions and choose the best one to prototype and test.

Morning: Sticky Decision

• Art museum: Tape sketches to the wall; review silently (no talking) and mark interesting parts with dot stickers.
• Heat map review: Discuss each sketch for 3 minutes — the facilitator narrates while the anonymous sketcher stays silent; a scribe captures standout ideas on the whiteboard.
• Straw poll: Each person votes for one solution with one sentence of rationale (non-binding).
• Supervote: The Decider gets three large dots; their decision wins.

Afternoon: Rumble or All-in-One

If multiple sketches win, choose: Rumble (competing prototypes testing different approaches) or All-in-One (combine the best ideas into one prototype — simpler, and what most sprints do).

• Storyboard: Draw a 10-15 panel comic of the test experience: opening scene (how the customer discovers you) → your solution in action → successful outcome. Keep it simple — stick figures, words, arrows — but get specific about the UI. Include just enough detail for Thursday's prototype.

Wednesday output: winning solution(s) and a detailed storyboard ready to prototype.

See references/wednesday.md when running the Sticky Decision and storyboard — facilitation steps for the vote and a panel-by-panel storyboard template.

Thursday: Prototype

Goal: Build a realistic facade in one day — you need something to test on Friday.

Mindset: Fake it; prototype only what you'll test. Aim for Goldilocks fidelity — sketches are too low for honest reactions, working code wastes time. It should look real without working for real (facades, click-throughs, video).

Assign Roles

Build the Prototype

Tools: Figma, Keynote, or PowerPoint linked slides for web/apps; video walkthrough or 3D-printed mockup for physical products; role-play video or scripted interaction for services.

Morning: divide the storyboard into scenes and assign them to makers. Afternoon: stitch together, review against the storyboard, rehearse the full flow, and run a trial with someone outside the sprint team.

Prototype checklist:

• Follows storyboard exactly
• Looks real enough to get honest reactions
• Can walk through in 5-15 minutes
• Interviewer knows how to present it
• Trial run completed

Thursday output: realistic prototype, interview script, prepared interview room.

See references/thursday.md while building the prototype — tool-by-tool techniques (Keynote/Figma facades, video, mockups) for hitting Goldilocks fidelity in a day.

Friday: Test

Goal: Interview 5 customers; learn what works and what doesn't.

Setup

Interview room: quiet space, laptop with the prototype, camera recording screen and customer's face. Observation room: live video feed where the whole team watches and takes notes on a whiteboard. One Interviewer conducts all five interviews.