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Design Sprint

What is a design sprint?

A design sprint is a time-boxed process (usually five days) that takes a team from a problem or opportunity to a tested prototype. You compress design thinking into a single week: understand, sketch, decide, prototype, test. One clear challenge; one prototype; real user feedback by the end.

Use it when: you have a big problem or idea and need to validate it quickly before committing to build. Good for kick-offs, pivots, or high-stakes decisions.

Copy/paste template (5-day sprint)

  • Monday – Understand: Map the problem; choose one challenge to focus on; set a sprint goal.
  • Tuesday – Sketch: Everyone sketches solutions (on paper); no group design yet.
  • Wednesday – Decide: Review sketches; decide what to prototype; storyboard the prototype.
  • Thursday – Prototype: Build a realistic prototype (good enough to test, not perfect).
  • Friday – Test: Run usability testing with 5 users; capture what you learned.

One decider; one facilitator; small team (5–7). Protect the week from other work.

Why design sprints matter

  • Reduce risk by testing an idea in a week instead of building for months.
  • Force decisions: time pressure and structure prevent endless debate.
  • Produce a concrete prototype and real user feedback, not just slides.
  • Align the team around one challenge and one test.

What a good design sprint includes

Checklist

  • [ ] One clear challenge – a specific problem or question the sprint answers.
  • [ ] Decider – one person who can make final calls when the team disagrees.
  • [ ] Facilitator – someone who runs the process so the team can focus on content.
  • [ ] Real users on Friday – 5 people who match your target users; you test with them.
  • [ ] No external meetings – the sprint team is full-time for the week.
  • [ ] Documented outcome – what you learned and what you’ll do next.

Common formats

  • Full 5-day: Monday–Friday as above. Best when you can dedicate the whole week.
  • Compressed (3-day or 4-day): Combine or shorten phases; still end with testing. Use when five days isn’t possible; protect at least the prototype and test days.
  • Remote: Same phases, run online with Miro/Figma and video; scheduling and facilitation need extra care.

Examples

Example (the realistic one)

Challenge: “Can we reduce sign-up drop-off by simplifying the form?” Monday: Map the current flow and drop-off points; set goal: “Test a 3-field sign-up vs current 7-field.” Tuesday: Everyone sketches a simplified flow. Wednesday: Pick one approach; storyboard the prototype. Thursday: Build a clickable prototype in Figma (sign-up only). Friday: 5 users try to sign up; you observe. Outcome: “3-field works; users still confused by ‘company’ – we’ll make it optional and iterate.”

Common pitfalls

  • Too many challenges: the sprint tries to solve three things. → Do this instead: pick one critical question; scope the prototype to answer only that.
  • Skipping Friday testing: you run out of time or don’t recruit users. → Do this instead: recruit before the sprint; testing is non-negotiable.
  • No decider: the team debates forever. → Do this instead: assign a decider upfront; they make the call when the team is stuck.
  • Sprint as a one-off: you never use the outcome. → Do this instead: agree before the sprint how the outcome will inform the roadmap or next build.
  • Design sprint vs design thinking: design thinking is the philosophy and phases; a design sprint is a fixed-length format that applies it (understand → ideate → prototype → test).
  • Design sprint vs workshop: a workshop might be a day or two and not end in a tested prototype; a sprint is a full cycle with user testing.
  • Design sprint vs agile sprint: agile sprints are delivery cycles (build and ship); a design sprint is for learning and validating before you build.

Next step

Pick one critical question or problem, block five days (or a compressed 3–4), and run a sprint. Recruit 5 users before you start so Friday testing is guaranteed. After the sprint, read Usability testing to deepen how you run and analyse the test.

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