Design Sprint

Four days. One validated solution.

A cross-functional team. A complex challenge. Four days to go from problem to a prototype tested with real users — and a decision your team stands behind before any development budget is committed.

Book a call

THE PROBLEM

Six months of engineering. Wrong solution.

Teams are pressured to deliver. They don’t pause to validate before committing — so they pick something. Once implementation starts, it’s hard to stop. Too often, they find out the hard way that they made the wrong call.

Six months of engineering time. A solution users don’t adopt. A decision that made sense in the room but couldn’t survive contact with reality.

The Design Sprint is built for the moment before that happens.

When you need it

The Design Sprint is built for high-stakes moments — when the cost of building the wrong thing is too high to guess your way through.

You have a complex challenge and need to align a cross-functional team on a direction before committing to development

You're launching a new product, service, or feature and need real user validation before the build starts

Stakeholders are misaligned, and months of debate haven't produced a decision

You need a visible result before the deadline — not a six-month mistake.

What it is

The Design Sprint is a four-day structured method for solving complex challenges through co-creation, rapid prototyping, and qualitative testing with real users. Developed for startups at Google Ventures, adapted by Design Sprint Academy for large organisations where the stakes are higher, the teams are bigger, and decisions carry more risk.

It brings a cross-functional team of seven to nine experts into the same room with a defined challenge and four days to go from problem to tested prototype.

Four days. Six phases.

Day 1 - Understand & Define  

The team maps the challenge, aligns on the customer, and identifies the single most critical moment in the user journey worth solving. Ends with a set of goals, success metrics, and key risks identified.

Day 2 - Ideate & Decide  

The team individually sketches solutions, drawing on their different perspectives and expertise. By the end of the day, the best thinking is combined into a single concept everyone can stand behind.

Day 3 - Prototype

A small build team turns the winning concept into a realistic, testable prototype in one day. Real enough that users react to it as if it's real.

Day 4 - Test

Five structured interviews with real users. By end of day the team has evidence — what landed, what needs work, and a clear decision on what to do next.

THE OUTPUT

A tested prototype. A decision the team can act on.

By the end of day four, the team has a prototype tested with five real users and a clear decision grounded in evidence — scale, iterate, or stop — before any development budget is committed.

The evidence is in the room. The decision is yours to make.

HOW WE WORK WITH YOU

Three ways to get a validated solution

Ask us to facilitate

Your team brings the business challenge and the domain knowledge. DSA handles the preparation — research, customer mapping, team onboarding — then facilitates the full four days, making sure the decision that comes out is one the organisation can stand behind. We only run high-stakes Design Sprints — where the cost of a wrong decision is significant and the cost of inaction is just as high.

2–3 weeks total including preparation, four-day facilitation, and handoff. On-site or remote.

Book a call to see if we are the right fit

Train your team to run it

A two-day training for up to 15 people. Your team learns the full Design Sprint methodology and leaves with everything needed to run sprints independently — the Playbook, Facilitation Slides, Agendas, and Facilitation Toolkit. For teams that face big bets and complex challenges repeatedly — and need a structured method to tackle them without bringing in external support every time.

Two days. Up to 15 participants. In-person. Delivered at your organisation.

Book a call to discuss an internal cohort for your team

Get certified — or hire someone who is

250+ Design Sprint Masters have passed DSA's certification program. Two levels: a theoretical exam that validates foundational knowledge, and a practical assessment that validates real facilitation experience.

Get certified to demonstrate your expertise. Certify your team to raise the standard of every sprint they run. Or use the Certified Facilitators Directory when hiring — so you know the person you're bringing in has been tested, not just trained.

Level 1 — Online exam. Level 2 — Practical assessment.

Explore certification →

From the field

How the Design Sprint works in practice

Article Header Image
Articles

The 3 Stages of Product Development Where Design Sprints Actually Work

When to run a Design Sprint, what impact to expect, and why timing—not just method—makes all the difference.

Article Header Image
Case Studies

Red Bull — Validating a new platform before committing to build it

Red Bull's digital team had too many feature ideas and no clear direction. Here's how a Problem Framing day and a four-day Design Sprint ...

Article Header Image
Articles

Is a Design Sprint right for your organization?

Design Sprints work best in large, complex organizations — not just startups. Learn what a Design Sprint is, who it's for, and how to know..

View all articles

Four days costs less than six months of building the wrong thing.

Book a call

Ai programs

AI LabsAI Problem FramingAI Workflow Sprints

product & Innovation

Problem FramingDesign Sprints

Resources

Facilitator KitsFree TemplatesBlogEvents

Company

About UsContactImpressum
© Design Sprint Academy, 2026 • Made with ♥ in Berlin, DE
Designed and built by Creative Glue Lab