What Is a Design Sprint and How We Use Them
A Design Sprint is a time-boxed, structured process for rapidly solving a design challenge, validating ideas, and making key decisions — without committing to full development. Developed at Google Ventures, it is now widely used in product and digital agencies including Progressive Robot.
The 5-Phase Structure
- Map (Day 1): Define the problem, map the user journey, and agree on a focus area
- Sketch (Day 2): Generate competing solution ideas individually — quantity over quality at this stage
- Decide (Day 3): Review and vote on the best ideas; produce a detailed storyboard
- Prototype (Day 4): Build a realistic but non-functional prototype — convincing enough to test with real users
- Test (Day 5): Conduct user interviews with 5 target users; observe and learn
When to Run a Design Sprint
- At the start of a new product or major feature
- When a team is stuck on a design problem
- When you need to validate an idea before committing development budget
- When multiple stakeholders have conflicting views that need to be resolved through evidence
What You Get
At the end of a sprint, you have: a tested prototype, user feedback, validated (or invalidated) assumptions, and a clear direction for development. This de-risks the build phase significantly.