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 for detailed Monday exerci