Async Design Sprint (Google Ventures Method)
Day 1: Map
- 1.
What's your role this week?
- 2.
Long-term goal: imagine it's two years from now and this project was a big success. What happened? Be optimistic.
- 3.
Sprint questions: what could stop us from getting there? Turn each worry into a question that starts with "Can we…?", for example "Can we get people to trust us with their data?"
- 4.
Ask the experts: if you know this problem well (customers, sales, support, the technology), record up to three minutes on what the rest of the team should know.
- 5.
Map: list the steps a customer takes, from first hearing about us to reaching the goal. One step per line.
- 6.
How might we…? Write each opportunity you see as a note starting with "How might we", for example "How might we show the price before sign-up?"
- 7.
Target: which customer, and which step on the map, should this sprint focus on?
Day 2: Sketch
- 1.
Lightning demos: name a product (any industry) that solves a similar problem well, and the one idea worth borrowing from it.
- 2.
Crazy 8s: fold a sheet into eight panels and sketch eight variations of your best idea, one minute each. Upload a photo.
- 3.
Solution sketch: on one sheet, draw three panels showing what the customer sees and does, step by step. It should explain itself without you there. Upload a photo.
- 4.
Give your solution sketch a short, catchy title.
Day 3: Decide
- 1.
Are you the Decider for this sprint?
- 2.
Heat map and straw poll: tap to drop a dot on every part of a sketch you like, add a note where something is unclear, then pick the one sketch you'd prototype.
- 3.
Decider only: pick the sketch we'll prototype tomorrow. Everyone else, skip this one.
- 4.
Storyboard: in six to ten steps, what will the customer see and do in the prototype, starting from where they'd first meet it?
Day 4: Prototype
- 1.
Which part of the prototype are you taking on?
- 2.
Link to the prototype or your part of it (Figma, Keynote, a web page), if you have one.
- 3.
Interviewers: write the questions you'll ask, one for each sprint question from day 1.
Day 5: Test
- 1.
How did each customer react to the prototype?
Columns: Positive / Mixed / Negative / Didn't watch
- 2.
Patterns: what did three or more customers do or say?
- 3.
AI Interview
Interview goal: Start from the sprint questions this respondent wrote on day 1, if you have them; otherwise ask which sprint question the customer sessions answered most clearly. For each, ask what the sessions showed: yes, no, or not clear yet, with a specific moment from a session as evidence. Anchor on the respondent's grid answers; if they rated a customer Negative, ask what that customer did right before things went wrong. End by asking what the team should do next week.