The Official 5-Day Design Sprint

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Set the stage

Sprint team

Assemble your sprint team.

Here’s where you decide who will be on your sprint team, and the roles each person will play. For more, read Chapter 2 in

Sprint⁠

Step 1: Review sprint roles

Each role is crucial to the success of a sprint. Familiarize yourself with them before assigning people in Step 2.

Role

Description

Participant

Participants are typically a small group of cross-functional teammates that add ideas and participate in each of the exercises.

Decider

The “Decider” role exists within this exercise to make final choices or break ties. This has to be one person, and it’s usually the CEO.

Facilitator

The Moderator, who is also a

@Participant

⁠

, keeps the meeting on track, starts/stops timers, provides instructions, takes notes, etc.

Extra Expert

If you have more than seven people you think should participate in your sprint, schedule the extras to come in as “experts” for a short visit on Monday afternoon.

There are no rows in this table

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Step 2: Assign people to roles

Now, add members to the sprint team below 👇

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Add

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Clear examples

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Tips for assigning roles

Mix diverse skills with the real team who's responsible for implementation. Consider including experts in finance, marketing, customers, technology, logistics, and/or design.

Ideally your team is seven or fewer (currently you have

6

⁠

core team members)

Sprint Role

Person

Job title

CEO / Founder

Business development manager

Community manager

Customer support lead

User researcher

Engineering lead

Engineer

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Step 3: Answer FAQ

When will your
`@Decider`⁠
join the sprint?

Your Decider is the true decision-maker—the "CEO" of this project or even the actual CEO.

Select an option 👉

⁠

If cameos only, when will they join? Monday 4pm, Wednesday 12pm, or all day Friday?

Who is your Delegated Decider?

If your Decider joins for cameos only, you'll need a Delegated Decider—someone with the authority to make smaller decisions during the sprint. Give that person the

@Decider⁠

role above.

Will your Sprint Team clear their schedules for the sprint?

If yes… you’re ready to sprint!

If no… maybe this isn't the right challenge or the right team.

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Email Summary⁠

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