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](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](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](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 — s