Design sprint

--- name: design-sprint description: 'Run a structured 5-day process to prototype, test, and validate product ideas with real users. Use this when a user mentions "design sprint," "validate in a week," "rapid prototype," "test with users," "de-risk before building," "GV sprint," "prototype testing," or "design workshop." Also trigger this when a team needs to make a critical product decision quickly, resolve stakeholder disagreements, or test risky ideas before investing in development. Covers mapping, sketching, deciding, prototyping, and testing. For ongoing experimentation, see lean-startup. For customer job analysis, see jobs-to-be-done.' license: MIT metadata: author: wondelai version: "1.2.0" --- # 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 Great solutions require both deep work and fast iteration. The Design Sprint compresses months of debate, design, and testing into one week, replacing endless discussion with focus and urgency. It reduces the risk of product decisions by testing with real users before any production code is written. ## Scoring Goal: 10/10. Rate any sprint plan or execution on a scale of 0:10 based on the principles below: proper structure, time-boxing, prototyping, and user testing. Lower scores indicate skipped steps or insufficient testing. Report the current score and the improvements needed to reach 10/10. ## The 5-Day Sprint Process `` Monday → Tuesday → Wednesday → Thursday → Friday Map Sketch Decide Prototype Test `` Prerequisites: a major challenge worth a week’s focus; the right team (Decider plus 4:7 people with diverse expertise); five full days (10 a.m.:5 p.m.) with no interruptions; a dedicated room with whiteboards. One Sprint Master facilitates, keeps time, and manages energy. ## 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, with the whole team contributing : e.g., “Will customers trust us with their payment information?” ### Afternoon: Map the Challenge - Customer journey map: List the actors (customer types), then draw the journey from 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 ones 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 for detailed Monday exercises and facilitation. ## Tuesday: Sketch Goal: Generate solutions:each person sketches a detailed solution. ### Morning: Lightning Demos - Find inspiration: 3-minute demos of competitors and similar products (“Here’s what I found, here’s why it’s interesting”); capture good ideas on the whiteboard. Draw inspiration from any industry. - Divide or swarm: Split the map among participants if it has multiple parts; otherwise, everyone tackles the same critical problem (most sprints use the swarm approach). ### Afternoon: The Four-Step Sketch Everyone sketches alone : no group brainstorming. Individual work produces better, more diverse ideas. 1. Notes (20 min): Walk silently around the room reviewing the map, HMWs, and inspiration. 2. Ideas (20 min): Rough doodles, mind maps, stick figures : quantity over quality