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This repo is a collection of documents intended to help guide a design sprint.It contains guidelines that should not be followed exactly.Each sprint should be tailored to the individual project.It is written by and for the thoughtbot team.

• Previous Sprints
• Pre-Sprint Preparation
• Understand Phase
• Diverge Phase
• Converge Phase
• Prototype Phase
• Test Phase

A product design sprint is a technique toquickly solve product design problemsand test the viability of a solution.It has been pioneered by theGoogle Ventures DesignTeam.

A design sprint orients the teamand aims our efforts toward a mutual goal.Design thinking and product design sprintskeep us on targetand invest our time and money wisely.

Sprints are useful when kicking off a newbusiness, product, feature, or workflow.Sprints can also be used to solve problems with an existing product.

At the end of the sprint,the team will understand the problem andwill have validatedwhether we have a viable solution to begin buildingor whether we need to run another sprint to keep searching for a solution.

A design sprint is comprised of five phases;Understand, Diverge, Converge, Prototype and Test.Each phase typically lasts one day.

We should not start a sprintwithout defining a "job to be done"as the focus of the sprint.The "job to be done" may evolve during the sprintinto a problem statement agreed upon by the whole team,but without one as a starting pointour client is not ready and should not be paying us.

The Understand phasedevelops a common understandingof the context within which we are workingand all the elements in that context:the customer,their job to be done,and the business our client hopes to support by servicing the job to be done.We want to expose risky knowledge gaps and assumptionsso we can make plans to reduce those risksand move forward with confidence.

The Diverge phasegenerates insights and concepts for solutions.Our goal is to explore as many possibilities as possible,regardless of how feasible or viable.Insights are born from this explosion of possibilitiesby considering the implications ofradically different approaches to solving a problem.These insights can becomevaluable differentiating forcesand the source ofinspiration for unique solutions.

The Converge phasetakes all the possibilities generated over the past two phasesand hones in on a single versionto prototypeand test with existing or potential customers.By exploring and eliminating so many options,we have reason to be more confident in our choices.

The Prototype phasedevelops a prototypethat fills our riskiest knowledge gaps and assumptions.Paper prototypes,Keynote prototypes,Flinto prototypes,andstatic HTML/CSS pagesare all valid mediums.The mediumshould be determined byour time constraintsand learning goals.

The Test phasetests our prototypewith existing or potential customers.By the end of this phase,we should have validated or invalidatedour riskiest knowledge gaps and assumptionsand have confidence in our next steps.

Throughout the sprint you want to be recording as much as possible.We've found Trello to be an excellent tool to help the team record the activitiestaken during the sprint. This template helps alleviate some of the initial setupfor the board and leaves references to this repo.

Copythis templateto your own board to help guide and document your sprint.

• Schedule for Understand
• Schedule for Diverge
• Schedule for Converge
• Schedule for Prototype
• Schedule for Test

• thoughtbot's blog post
• thoughtbot playbook
• Google VenturesDesign Staff blog posts
  • Before the sprint: Prepare
  • Day 1: Understand
  • Day 2: Diverge
  • Day 3: Decide
  • Day 4: Prototype
  • Day 5: Validate
• IDEO'sHuman Centered Design Toolkit
• How To Conduct Your Own Google Ventures Design Sprint
• Personal Design Sprint
• Gamestorming and theGamestorming Wiki
• Good Kickoff Meetings

We love new ideas that push this repository and design sprints forward. Pleasereview thecontributing guidelines if you'd like to help out.

This repo is maintained and funded bythoughtbot, inc.Tweet your questions or suggestions to@thoughtbotand while you're at it follow us too.

Looking to run your own design sprint but want help from someone who hasexperience running them before?Hire us.

Copyright © 2015thoughtbot, inc.The information contained in Design Sprint is free,and may be redistributed under the terms specified in thelicense.