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SKILL.md
npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill design-sprint
Run a structured 5-day process to prototype, test, and validate product ideas with real users. Use when the user mentions "design sprint", "validate before we build", "rapid prototype", "test with users", or "should we build this". Also trigger when a team is stuck in endless debate over a high-stakes product decision, or wants to de-risk a costly idea before investing in development. Covers mapping, sketching, deciding, prototyping, and testing across Monday-Friday. For ongoing experimentation and MVPs, see lean-startup. For customer job analysis, see jobs-to-be-done. For non-leading user interviews, see mom-test.
npx skills add wondelai/skills --skill design-sprint
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Goal: Understand the problem and choose a target for the week.
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 while facilitating Monday — step-by-step exercise scripts, HMW examples, and the target-selection method.
Goal: Generate solutions — each person sketches a detailed solution.
Everyone sketches alone — no group brainstorming. Individual work produces better, more diverse ideas.
Tuesday output: one detailed, anonymous, self-explanatory solution sketch per person.
See references/tuesday.md before the Four-Step Sketch — Crazy 8s and solution-sketch templates plus worked examples to show the team.
Goal: Critique solutions and choose the best one to prototype and test.
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).
Wednesday output: winning solution(s) and a detailed storyboard ready to prototype.
See references/wednesday.md when running the Sticky Decision and storyboard — facilitation steps for the vote and a panel-by-panel storyboard template.
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).
| 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, competitor screenshots |
| Interviewer (1) | Writes and rehearses Friday's interview script |
| Sprint Master | Helps where needed, keeps energy up |
Tools: Figma, Keynote, or PowerPoint linked slides for web/apps; video walkthrough or 3D-printed mockup for physical products; role-play video or scripted interaction for services.
Morning: divide the storyboard into scenes and assign them to makers. Afternoon: stitch together, review against the storyboard, rehearse the full flow, and run a trial with someone outside the sprint team.
Prototype checklist:
Thursday output: realistic prototype, interview script, prepared interview room.
See references/thursday.md while building the prototype — tool-by-tool techniques (Keynote/Figma facades, video, mockups) for hitting Goldilocks fidelity in a day.
Goal: Interview 5 customers; learn what works and what doesn't.
Interview room: quiet space, laptop with the prototype, camera recording screen and customer's face. Observation room: live video feed where the whole team watches and takes notes on a whiteboard. One Interviewer conducts all five interviews.
About 45 minutes per customer (the five acts run ~35 min plus setup and transitions), with 30-minute breaks between to discuss observations and adjust questions. See references/friday.md for the full 9am-5pm schedule.
| Act | Time | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Friendly welcome | 5 min | Greet warmly; explain you're testing the prototype, not them; get recording permission; encourage thinking aloud |
| 2. Context questions | 5 min | "Tell me about how you currently handle [problem]" — understand mindset and current behavior |
| 3. Introduce prototype | 5 min | "What's this? What do you think it's for?" Don't explain — let them interpret |
| 4. Tasks and nudges | 15 min | Open-ended exploration, then storyboard tasks. When stuck: "What would you do next?", "What's going through your mind?" Don't help — watch them struggle |
| 5. Debrief | 5 min | "What did you think overall?", "Who is this for?", "What worked? What was confusing?" |
Patterns emerge after 3-5 people and returns diminish after 5 — and five interview-plus-break slots fit one day (see references/friday.md). Recruit target customers via a screener survey and offer an incentive ($100-$200 B2B, $50-$100 B2C).
See references/recruiting.md two weeks before the sprint — it has screener-survey questions, recruiting channels, scheduling logistics, and incentive guidance for locking in five on-target users.
Capture observations in a grid, one column per customer:
| Customer 1 | Customer 2 | Customer 3 | Customer 4 | Customer 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| notes | notes | notes | notes | notes |
Mark each observation ✓ (positive, success), ✗ (negative, failure), or ~ (neutral/mixed). After all five interviews, count marks per row and look for patterns — did all 5 struggle with the same thing?
Organize findings: ✓ what worked (flows everyone understood, messaging that resonated), ✗ what failed (confusing terminology, missing steps, wrong assumptions), ~ mixed (some got it, some didn't). Then decide next steps:
Friday output: interview recordings, pattern notes, a clear list of what works and what doesn't, decision on next steps.
See references/friday.md before interviewing — verbatim Five-Act scripts, note-taking templates, the fuller next-steps decision table, and the common Friday mistakes to avoid.
Run when: the decision is high-stakes, there's no time to build and test normally, the team is stuck in endless debate, multiple solutions compete, it's a new product/feature/major redesign, or you need to de-risk before investing.
Don't run when: the problem and solution are obvious and you just need to execute, the team isn't bought in, or you can't get the Decider for the full week.
See references/case-studies.md for worked sprint walk-throughs (Slack, Blue Bottle Coffee, Savioke and more) when you need a concrete precedent for how a sprint played out in a domain like yours.
| Mistake | Why It Fails | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Skip prototyping | Nothing to test | Always prototype, even if simple |
| Over-engineer prototype | Waste time on details that don't matter | Facade only, not working code |
| Test with wrong users | Invalid feedback | Screen for target customers |
| Explain prototype to users | Defeats the test; confusion is the data | Run Acts 3-4 as written — they interpret and struggle unaided |
| No decision maker | Can't commit to decision | Get Decider for full week or don't sprint |
| Interruptions | Breaks focus | Protect the week, no meetings/emails |
Audit any sprint plan:
| Question | If No | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Do we have a Decider for full week? | Sprint will fail | Get commitment or postpone |
| Is the problem important enough? | Waste of time | Only sprint on big challenges |
| Can we prototype in 1 day? | Wrong problem for sprint | Choose more concrete problem |
| Can we recruit 5 target users? | Can't test properly | Start recruiting now (2 weeks ahead) |
| Will team commit to no interruptions? | Won't maintain focus | Get buy-in from leadership |
For the complete methodology, exercises, and case studies:
Jake Knapp created the Design Sprint at Google, where he ran sprints on Gmail, Chrome, and Google X, then refined the process across 100+ startup sprints as a design partner at Google Ventures. The sprint is now used at Google, Slack, Airbnb, LEGO, and thousands of companies worldwide. He is also the author of Make Time.