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

**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 de-risks product decisions by testing with real users before any production code is written.

## Scoring

**Goal: 10/10.** Rate any sprint plan or execution 0-10 against the principles below: proper structure, time-boxing, prototyping, and user testing. Lower scores mean 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 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.

## 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](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 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](references/tuesday.md) for sketching templates and examples.

## 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](references/wednesday.md) for decision exercises and storyboard templates.

## 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

| Role | Responsibility |
|------|----------------|
| **Makers** (2+) | Build the prototype pieces (design, assets) |
| **Stitcher** (1) | Combines pieces into the final prototype (Keynote, Figma) |
| **Writer** (1) | All copy: headlines, button labels, descriptions |
| **Collector** (1-2) | Gathers photos, icons, competit