Design Sprint Brief: Workbench One-Screen UX Validation
Scenario
Following readiness Go 2026-07-22, Jin confirmed 6 slots by 2026-07-30 (1 day ahead of deadline). Priya invokes tool-design-sprint-brief on Friday 2026-07-31 to lock remaining decisions.
Challenge Statement and Why-Now
Redesign the Workbench one-screen UX so SREs in incident-time disorientation phase identify “what is happening” + “what to look at first” within 60 seconds of opening Workbench, without reverting to source tools. This week because the pilot retention conversation with the Series C fintech closes 2026-08-21 and Priya’s seed-round target close is 2026-09-15; the UX validation gates both.
Sprint Questions
- Will senior SREs in a simulated incident-time disorientation phase identify “what is happening” + “what to look at first” within 60 sec of opening the redesigned Workbench one-screen? (Tests pilot-derived A9; lead question.)
- Does the redesigned one-screen reduce the “revert to source tool within 3 min” rate observed in the pilot from 50% to under 20%?
- Do SREs describe the one-screen as augmenting (not replacing) their existing tools, in alignment with the FS positioning principle?
- When asked “what would you pay per-seat for this”, do SREs self-describe a sustainable price point within the USD 150-300 band?
Decider Attendance Windows
| Window | Day | Required for |
|---|---|---|
| Mon AM | 2026-08-03 09:00-12:30 PT | Map and Target |
| Wed AM | 2026-08-05 09:00-12:30 PT | Heat map + supervote |
| Fri PM | 2026-08-07 14:00-18:00 PT | Decider review by 17:30 |
| Full week | 2026-08-03 through 2026-08-07 | All 5 days |
Team Roster
| Attendee | Role | Mon-Fri |
|---|---|---|
| Priya | Decider, PM | all 5 days |
| Marcus | Engineering | all 5 days (Thu build pair) |
| Ari | Design lead | all 5 days (Tue sketches + Thu Figma build) |
| Jin | Customer expert + interviewer | all 5 days; owns Fri moderation |
Customer Recruiting Plan
| Element | Value |
|---|---|
| Target profile | Senior SREs at Series B-D US startups with significant distributed-systems complexity; on-call required |
| Source | Series C fintech (2) + Priya’s SRE network (3) + 1 buffer |
| Count needed | 5 (6 confirmed; 1 buffer) |
| Incentive | USD 150 per 60-min |
| Recruiter | Jin |
| Deadline | 2026-07-31 (CLOSED 2026-07-30) |
| Friday schedule | 09:00 / 10:30 / 12:00 / 14:00 / 15:30 / 17:00 PT buffer |
Prototype Medium Decision
Medium: Clickable Figma of one-screen UX with realistic incident data (anonymized from pilot incidents).
Rationale: UX is what’s being tested; Figma renders the dense one-screen convincingly with real-feeling data without requiring a live aggregation backend during the interview. Ari has proven capability.
Build owners: Ari (Maker + Stitcher) + Marcus (incident-data realism + interaction logic).
Interview Format
Format: Remote moderated via Zoom + Figma screen-share.
Moderator: Jin. Observer setup: Priya + Marcus + Ari in Zoom breakout.
Script structure: Five-Act Interview. Tasks Act: “You are on-call. PagerDuty just fired. You open Workbench. Walk me through what you see and what you would do.”
Success Criteria
- Sprint Q1 validated 4-of-5 (median 60-sec comprehension).
- Priya makes scale / iterate / pivot / stop call by 17:30 Friday.
- Sprint Q2 directional validation (4-of-5 customers describe not reverting within 3 min).
- Sprint Q3 augment-not-replace framing validated 4-of-5.
Decider Checkpoint
- Priya confirms challenge + sprint questions
- Priya confirms team + attendance
- Priya re-confirms recruiting + USD 900 budget
- Priya confirms Figma medium
- Priya confirms Five-Act script + remote format
- Priya confirms success criteria + 17:30 Friday call
Signed: Priya (founder, PM), 2026-07-31 16:30 PT.
Brief locked. Sprint begins Monday 2026-08-03 09:00 PT.