Design Sprint Sketch (Tuesday)
Try it: /pm-skills:tool-design-sprint-sketch "Your context here"
Structure Tuesday’s solo-but-together work. Each team member, working independently and silently, produces lightning demos in the morning and a four-step solution sketch in the afternoon. The skill structures the activity; the humans produce the sketches. Wednesday’s heat-map orientation depends on having a cohort of independent sketches that did NOT contaminate each other through group brainstorming.
Family contract: docs/reference/skill-families/design-sprint-skills-contract.md. This skill is a member of design-sprint-skills.
When to Use
Section titled “When to Use”- It is Day 2 of the Design Sprint and Monday’s Map and Target artifact is signed off.
- Each team member brings at least 3 lightning demo sources (existing products, references, analogies that bear on the challenge).
- The team has accepted the silent-independent-sketching constraint and will NOT lapse into group brainstorming.
- Sketches are due Tuesday end-of-day for Wednesday morning heat-map.
When NOT to Use
Section titled “When NOT to Use”- Monday is not closed. Return to
tool-design-sprint-map-and-target. - The team’s instinct is to brainstorm as a group. Sprint method explicitly avoids this; if the team will not commit to independent work, the sprint will not produce diverse sketches and the heat-map becomes a popularity contest.
- The sketch step is being treated as the prototype. Sketches are concept exploration on paper or Figma frames, not Thursday’s working prototype.
- Sketches are due Tuesday morning. Tuesday is the full day; rushing to lunch produces sketches the team cannot read Wednesday.
How to Use
Section titled “How to Use”Invoke the skill by name (/pm-skills:tool-design-sprint-sketch on Claude Code, $tool-design-sprint-sketch on Codex):
/pm-skills:tool-design-sprint-sketch "Your context here"Or reference the skill file directly: skills/tool-design-sprint-sketch/SKILL.md
What This Skill Produces
Section titled “What This Skill Produces”A single bundled artifact with four sections:
- Lightning demo board: each team member presents 3 demos (3 minutes each); the Facilitator extracts the reusable pattern from each demo into a one-line note. Result is a board with 12-21 patterns (4-7 team members x 3 demos).
- Sketch assignment plan: divide (each person sketches a different part of the target moment) or swarm (everyone sketches the same target). Default is swarm for v0.1 Design Sprints; divide is for teams running their second sprint with the same target who want to broaden coverage.
- Four-step sketches from each team member: Notes (20 min reviewing Monday output + lightning demos), Ideas (20 min rough doodles), Crazy 8s (8 minutes, 8 variations of the strongest Idea), Solution Sketch (30-90 min final 3-panel storyboard-style sketch).
- Recruiting tracker update: Riley (or the recruiter) confirms Friday slots; surfaces any cancellations and triggers buffer-slot activation if needed.
See references/TEMPLATE.md for the canonical structure and references/EXAMPLE.md for the Brainshelf book-catalog Tuesday artifact.
Tuesday Time Structure
Section titled “Tuesday Time Structure”The full Tuesday workshop is approximately 7 hours (09:00-12:30 + 13:30-17:00). The skill’s bundled artifact emerges across the day:
- 09:00-09:15: Welcome + Monday recap + Tuesday agenda
- 09:15-10:45: Lightning demos (each person 3 demos x 3 min + 1 min Facilitator extraction = ~12 min per person; 4-person team = ~50 min; 7-person team = ~85 min)
- 10:45-11:00: Break
- 11:00-11:30: Sketch assignment plan + Notes step (each person silently reviews Monday output and lightning demo board)
- 11:30-12:30: Ideas step (each person silently doodles ideas in their notebook or Figma frame)
- 12:30-13:30: Lunch + (in parallel) recruiting tracker check-in
- 13:30-13:40: Crazy 8s (8 minutes, 8 variations of strongest Idea)
- 13:40-15:30: Solution Sketch (final 3-panel sketch; everyone silent; Facilitator times)
- 15:30-15:45: Break
- 15:45-16:30: Sketches collected + named + photographed for Wednesday board; sketcher attribution hidden (Wednesday’s heat-map is blind)
- 16:30-17:00: Day-end check-in; confirm sketches uploaded; confirm Wednesday morning attendance
This skill’s 180-minute timebox covers the Facilitator-led portions (lightning demos + assignment + collection). The silent sketch steps (Notes, Ideas, Crazy 8s, Solution Sketch) are individual work and run in parallel; the team is together in the room (or video call) but not collaborating.
Common Pitfalls
Section titled “Common Pitfalls”- Group brainstorming. The single most common failure mode. The Sprint method explicitly forbids group sketching because it produces sketches that converge on the loudest voice, not the best idea. Facilitator’s job is to enforce silence during sketch steps.
- Sketches not concrete enough. A solution sketch must be understandable Wednesday morning WITHOUT the artist explaining it. If the heat-map team has to ask “what is this?”, the sketch failed the readability bar.
- Skipping lightning demos. Lightning demos are not optional warm-up; they inject outside patterns the team would not have generated. Skipping them produces inward-looking sketches.
- Demo facilitator failing to extract reusable patterns. Each demo’s reusable pattern must be captured (not the whole demo). “Spotify’s home screen” is not a pattern; “feed of personalized cards with one-tap action” is.
- Sketching the prototype. The solution sketch is a concept; the prototype is Thursday’s build. Sketches that try to be the prototype are over-detailed in the wrong dimensions (visual polish, copy) and under-detailed in the right ones (interaction sequence, user reaction).
- Sketcher attribution leaked into Wednesday heat-map. Wednesday’s heat-map is blind (no sketcher names visible) so the team votes on the sketch, not the sketcher. If sketches arrive on Wednesday with names attached, the Facilitator strips them.
Cross-Skill Usage
Section titled “Cross-Skill Usage”Prerequisites: tool-design-sprint-map-and-target. Sketch consumes Monday’s target moment as the design target for the four-step sketch protocol. Without a target moment, sketches diverge with no shared direction.
This skill does NOT invoke tool-note-and-vote. Tuesday has no voting moment; all voting happens Wednesday after sketches are produced.
Next invocation in the sprint: tool-design-sprint-decide-and-storyboard Wednesday morning.
Canonical Sources
Section titled “Canonical Sources”- Knapp, J., Zeratsky, J., and Kowitz, B. Sprint. Simon and Schuster, 2016. Tuesday chapter (Chapters 8-10), particularly the four-step sketch protocol (Chapter 9).
- GV Design Sprint Guide. “Sprint Week Tuesday.” https://www.gv.com/sprint/
- Character Capital. “Design Sprint Day 2.” https://www.character.vc
- Google Design Sprint Kit. “Tuesday agenda template + four-step sketch handout.” https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/
Decider Checkpoint
Section titled “Decider Checkpoint”This skill ends with a Decider Checkpoint in references/TEMPLATE.md. There is NO mid-day Tuesday decision; the Decider’s role Tuesday is to be a sketcher among other sketchers (the Decider sketches independently like everyone else). The end-of-Tuesday Decider Checkpoint is a logistics confirmation: all sketches collected, attribution stripped, Wednesday morning attendance confirmed. The substantive Decider call comes Wednesday morning at the supervote.
Output Template
Section titled “Output Template”Design Sprint Tuesday Artifact: [Initiative or Challenge name]
Section titled “Design Sprint Tuesday Artifact: [Initiative or Challenge name]”Lightning Demo Board
Section titled “Lightning Demo Board”Each team member presented 3 demos (3 min each); the Facilitator extracted the reusable pattern from each into a one-line note. Total demos: [N]. Total patterns: [N].
| Presenter | Demo source | Reusable pattern (one line) |
|---|---|---|
| [Name] | [Product or reference] | [Pattern extracted] |
| [Name] | [Product or reference] | [Pattern extracted] |
| [Name] | [Product or reference] | [Pattern extracted] |
| [Name] | [Product or reference] | [Pattern extracted] |
| … | … | … |
Patterns most likely to influence sketches (Facilitator’s read; not voted): [list 3-5]
Sketch Assignment Plan
Section titled “Sketch Assignment Plan”Approach: [Swarm (default; all team members sketch the same target) / Divide (team members assigned to different parts of the target)]
Target for sketching: [Verbatim from Monday’s target moment; e.g., “Step 3 capture moment plus immediate post-capture confirmation surface”]
Time allocations: Notes 20 min; Ideas 20 min; Crazy 8s 8 min; Solution Sketch 30-90 min (the team committed to [X] min).
Constraint: Silent independent work. No looking at others’ work. No talking. Facilitator times each step.
Four-Step Sketches
Section titled “Four-Step Sketches”[Each team member produces one Solution Sketch. The Notes, Ideas, and Crazy 8s pages stay with each sketcher; only the Solution Sketch goes on Wednesday’s heat-map board. Sketches are described textually here; the actual sketches are photographed or exported and uploaded to the shared workspace.]
Sketcher 1: [Name] (attribution removed before Wednesday)
Section titled “Sketcher 1: [Name] (attribution removed before Wednesday)”Solution Sketch description: [3-5 sentence textual description of what the sketch shows: 3-panel storyboard structure, what the user sees at each panel, what action they take, how the system responds. Should be understandable Wednesday WITHOUT the artist explaining.]
Distinctive elements: [What makes this sketch different from a baseline approach? What pattern from the lightning demo board (if any) does it draw on?]
Sketcher 2: [Name]
Section titled “Sketcher 2: [Name]”Solution Sketch description: […]
Distinctive elements: […]
Sketcher 3: [Name]
Section titled “Sketcher 3: [Name]”Solution Sketch description: […]
Distinctive elements: […]
Sketcher 4: [Name]
Section titled “Sketcher 4: [Name]”Solution Sketch description: […]
Distinctive elements: […]
[Additional sketchers if team size 5-7.]
Recruiting Tracker Update (Tuesday Check-in)
Section titled “Recruiting Tracker Update (Tuesday Check-in)”| Slot | Customer name (or ID) | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 09:00 | [Name or ID] | [Confirmed / Pending / Cancelled / Buffer-activated] | [Notes] |
| Fri 10:30 | [Name or ID] | [Status] | [Notes] |
| Fri 12:00 | [Name or ID] | [Status] | [Notes] |
| Fri 14:00 | [Name or ID] | [Status] | [Notes] |
| Fri 15:30 | [Name or ID] | [Status] | [Notes] |
| Fri 17:00 (buffer) | [Name or ID] | [Status] | [Notes] |
Cancellations to date: [N]. Buffer slot activation needed: [Yes / No]. Risk level for Friday: [Low / Medium / High; explain.]
Decider Checkpoint
Section titled “Decider Checkpoint”Decider sign-off required before Wednesday begins.
- Decider confirms all team members produced a Solution Sketch (no skipping; no group sketches).
- Decider confirms sketch attribution has been stripped before sketches are added to Wednesday’s heat-map board.
- Decider acknowledges that Wednesday’s heat-map is blind (votes on sketches, not on sketchers).
- Decider commits to attending Wednesday morning 09:00-12:30 for heat-map plus critique plus supervote (the load-bearing Wednesday window).
- Decider confirms recruiting tracker status; no Friday-blocking cancellations.
Signed: [Decider name, role], [ISO date and local time]
Example Output
Section titled “Example Output”Design Sprint Tuesday Artifact: Brainshelf Camera-Capture Validation
Design Sprint Tuesday Artifact: Brainshelf Camera-Capture Validation
Section titled “Design Sprint Tuesday Artifact: Brainshelf Camera-Capture Validation”Tuesday 2026-06-02. Monday closed with Jamie selecting the capture-plus-confirmation moment (map Steps 2 + 3 transition; includes a 2-step recall flow from the confirmation surface) as the target. Today the team produced 4 independent solution sketches against that target.
Lightning Demo Board
Section titled “Lightning Demo Board”Each team member presented 3 demos (3 min each) during the 09:15-10:45 lightning session. Facilitator (Riley) extracted reusable patterns. Total demos: 12. Total patterns: 12.
| Presenter | Demo source | Reusable pattern (one line) |
|---|---|---|
| Jamie | Apple Wallet (add pass flow) | Single-tap commit with system-handled confirmation animation |
| Jamie | Instagram (capture and post) | Camera-first surface with one-frame preview before commit |
| Jamie | Bear (note app) | Tag-on-save with auto-suggested tags from recent context |
| Alex | Day One (journal) | Library view with chronological + manual collection switching |
| Alex | Pinterest (pin save) | Save-from-anywhere with visual confirmation card overlay |
| Alex | Google Photos (face grouping) | Trust through “we found this; correct us” framing |
| Sam | Linear (issue creation) | Quick-add field with smart parsing of free-text input |
| Sam | Robinhood (buy confirmation) | High-stakes confirmation with explicit cancel window before commit |
| Sam | Notion (database row) | Editable-in-place after capture; correction is friction-free |
| Riley | Goodreads (book add) | The status quo we are competing against; over-friction at capture |
| Riley | Letterboxd (film log) | Capture-as-rating; rating becomes the capture confirmation |
| Riley | Things 3 (task quick-entry) | Capture flow that escapes to background instantly; no modal trap |
Patterns most likely to influence sketches (Riley’s read; not voted): single-tap commit with animation (Jamie/Apple Wallet); trust through “we found this; correct us” framing (Alex/Google Photos); editable-in-place after capture (Sam/Notion); capture escapes to background instantly (Riley/Things 3).
Sketch Assignment Plan
Section titled “Sketch Assignment Plan”Approach: Swarm. All four team members sketch the same target moment. Rationale: first Design Sprint for this team; default for v0.1 sprints; divide would broaden coverage but reduce comparability.
Target for sketching: “Capture moment plus immediate post-capture confirmation surface” (map Steps 2 + 3 transition; includes a 2-step recall flow from the confirmation surface).
Time allocations: Notes 20 min (11:00-11:20); Ideas 20 min (11:30-11:50); Crazy 8s 8 min (13:30-13:38); Solution Sketch 90 min (13:40-15:10). Team committed to the full 90-min Solution Sketch window for thoroughness.
Constraint: Silent independent work. No looking at others’ Figma frames. No talking. Riley times each step and gives 5-min and 1-min warnings.
Four-Step Sketches
Section titled “Four-Step Sketches”All four sketches produced in Figma frames sized 1170 x 2532 (iPhone Pro vertical). Each sketcher used a single artboard with a 3-panel storyboard structure. Sketches collected at 15:10 PT, attribution stripped, named “Sketch A / B / C / D” in random order for Wednesday’s heat-map.
Sketch B (Jamie’s; attribution visible Tuesday to team for completion verification, stripped Wednesday morning for blind heat-map)
Section titled “Sketch B (Jamie’s; attribution visible Tuesday to team for completion verification, stripped Wednesday morning for blind heat-map)”Solution Sketch description: Panel 1 shows the camera surface with a book held in frame; the cover is recognized with a subtle pulsing outline; bottom shows “Twig and Cover Books” detected with a thumbnail-sized cover preview. Panel 2 shows the post-capture confirmation: a card slides up from the bottom with the book cover, title, author, and 4 chips for “Read / Want to read / Reading / Reference”; a 5-second visible undo countdown sits in the top-right. Panel 3 shows the immediate recall surface: the same book now appears at the top of a “Recently captured” row in the user’s library, with a “where you saw it” tag (geolocation; bookstore name detected) and a “books like this you have” mini-row.
Distinctive elements: Drew on Sam’s Robinhood pattern (explicit cancel window before commit; 5-second undo countdown). The “where you saw it” geolocation pattern is novel; no demo had it.
Sketch D (Alex’s; attribution stripped Wednesday morning)
Section titled “Sketch D (Alex’s; attribution stripped Wednesday morning)”Solution Sketch description: Panel 1 shows a full-bleed camera viewfinder with a thin AR-style frame around the book; recognition is indicated only by haptic-equivalent visual (a soft glow at the edges); no on-screen text during capture. Panel 2 shows the confirmation as a Polaroid-style card that animates into a stack of recent captures; the card itself shows cover + title + a “Tap to correct” small text at bottom; correction tap opens an inline editable field with auto-suggestions. Panel 3 shows the library view as a visual-first wall of book covers with a search bar at top; search opens to a “found in your library: 3 books that mention X” panel.
Distinctive elements: Drew on Alex’s own Google Photos “we found this; correct us” pattern (correction is friction-free in-place). The Polaroid-stack metaphor is novel. Panel 1 trusts haptic feedback over visual text; tests whether minimalism feels confident or anxious.
Sketch C (Sam’s; attribution stripped Wednesday morning)
Section titled “Sketch C (Sam’s; attribution stripped Wednesday morning)”Solution Sketch description: Panel 1 shows the camera surface with explicit two-step capture: tap to capture, tap again to commit (vs. auto-commit on recognition). Panel 2 shows the confirmation as a full-screen modal with the book cover plus 6 explicit metadata fields the user can edit (title, author, edition, format, status, optional note); a prominent “Save” button bottom-right; no auto-tagging. Panel 3 shows the library as a tabular list with sortable columns (title, author, captured-on, status).
Distinctive elements: Engineer’s preference for explicit user control over magic. Drew on Linear’s quick-add pattern but inverted (Linear is fast; Sam’s sketch is intentional and thorough). Tests whether the target customer wants confidence-via-control or confidence-via-system-intelligence.
Sketch A (Riley’s; attribution stripped Wednesday morning)
Section titled “Sketch A (Riley’s; attribution stripped Wednesday morning)”Solution Sketch description: Panel 1 shows the camera with the book in frame; recognition surfaces a single best-match cover at the top of the screen with “Is this right? Yes / No”; tapping Yes commits. Panel 2 shows the confirmation as a journal-entry-style card: book cover left, freeform text input right (“Why did you grab this?”); the text field is optional but prominent. Panel 3 shows the library view organized by “captured contexts” (chips at top: “Last weekend at Powell’s” / “From Devon’s recommendation” / “Following the Octavia Butler trail”); tapping a chip filters the library.
Distinctive elements: Customer-expert’s reading on what readers actually care about: the story of why they grabbed the book, not just the metadata. Drew on Things 3’s escape-to-background pattern (the freeform text is optional; capture completes without it). The “captured contexts” library organization is novel; no demo had context-as-primary-organization.
Recruiting Tracker Update (Tuesday Check-in, 12:35 PT)
Section titled “Recruiting Tracker Update (Tuesday Check-in, 12:35 PT)”| Slot | Customer name (or ID) | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 09:00 | UI-Panel-A (US, age 38, M) | Confirmed | Reschedule risk Low; reminder sent |
| Fri 10:30 | Discord-1 (UK, age 31, F) | Confirmed | High enthusiasm; pre-screen score 9/10 |
| Fri 12:00 | Discord-2 (US, age 45, F) | Cancelled (work conflict; 12:20 PT email) | Buffer activation needed |
| Fri 14:00 | Discord-3 (Canada, age 29, M) | Confirmed | |
| Fri 15:30 | UI-Panel-B (Australia, age 52, F) | Confirmed | Time-zone challenge: 09:30 their local; confirmed comfortable |
| Fri 17:00 (buffer) | Discord-4 (US, age 36, M) | Activated 14:50 PT in response to 12:00 cancellation | Moved to 12:00 slot; buffer slot now empty |
Cancellations to date: 1. Buffer slot activation needed: Triggered; Discord-4 moved to 12:00; buffer slot now empty (next cancellation triggers escalation). Risk level for Friday: Low. Buffer used; team aware that one more cancellation triggers cohort-shrinks-to-4 protocol.
Decider Checkpoint
Section titled “Decider Checkpoint”Decider sign-off required before Wednesday begins.
- Jamie confirms all 4 team members produced a Solution Sketch (no skipping; no group sketches; Riley enforced silence during the 90-min Solution Sketch window).
- Jamie confirms sketch attribution has been stripped before sketches are added to Wednesday’s heat-map board (sketches renamed A / B / C / D in random order; sketcher names removed from Figma frame metadata).
- Jamie acknowledges that Wednesday’s heat-map is blind (votes on sketches, not on sketchers); team has agreed not to discuss attribution until after the supervote.
- Jamie commits to attending Wednesday morning 09:00-12:30 PT for heat-map plus critique plus supervote.
- Jamie confirms recruiting tracker status: 1 cancellation absorbed by buffer activation; risk Low for Friday; one more cancellation triggers cohort-shrinks-to-4 protocol.
Signed: Jamie (founder, PM), 2026-06-02 16:50 PT.
Tuesday closed. Sketches uploaded as Sketch A/B/C/D to shared Figma board for Wednesday’s heat-map.