Design Sprint

What It Is

• Instead of endless brainstorming: structured individual sketching
• Instead of design by committee: one Decider with authority
• Instead of building real products: realistic "fake" prototypes
• Instead of launching and hoping: testing with 5 target customers

When to Use It

• You're starting something new and need to validate direction before committing engineering resources
• Stakes are high — the project will require significant investment
• You're stuck — the team has been debating the same ideas for weeks or months
• There's a big behavioral risk — the product requires customers to change how they work
• You need alignment — stakeholders have different visions
• Time pressure exists — you have a deadline or limited runway

When Not to Use It

• You already have strong signal from existing customers (iterate instead)
• The solution is obvious and low-risk (just build it)
• Key stakeholders can't commit to the full week
• You don't have access to target customers for testing

Resources

• Sprint by Jake Knapp with John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz
• Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky