"Design sprint" has become a vague term. Here's precisely what ours produces in two weeks, so you can decide whether it's worth it.
Week one
Monday and Tuesday are interviews: your team, then five people who'd use the product. Wednesday we map the core flow on a wall (or a FigJam board). Thursday and Friday are sketching, in low fidelity, on purpose.
Week two
Monday to Wednesday we build a clickable prototype of the one flow that matters most. Thursday we test it with five users, recorded. Friday we write up what happened and what we'd change.
What you leave with
- A Figma prototype you can put in front of investors or your board.
- Five recorded user sessions and a two-page summary.
- A build estimate for a first version, in weeks and cost, with the assumptions written down.
- An honest answer on whether to build it at all.
About one sprint in four ends with "don't build this yet". That's the sprint paying for itself.