Pre-sprint brief that locks challenge, sprint questions, team and role assignments, customer recruiting plan, prototype medium, interview format, logistics, and success criteria before Monday of a Design Sprint. Use after the readiness verdict is Go and before Monday begins. Produces a two-page artifact the team and Decider sign off on as the contract for the next five days.
SkillScore82Maintained
Automatic
◆Product Management pack
Last verified 8/18/2026
What it changes
Passed 18 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 6 of 22 without it.
Without skill27%
With skill82%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
The roster is flagged for exceeding the maximum allowed sprint team size of seven people.
The response directs the team to continue with Monday's map-and-target activities instead.
The request to generate a sprint brief is declined while the readiness verdict remains Wait.
and 14 more in the full report
13 fixed5 passed either way3 still failing1 broke
Pass-rate lift
+55 pp
Tokens
+68%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-29%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/18/2026v118 of 22 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
One of 13 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
1 of 13
Prompt
When migrating inputs from a prior Foundation Sprint into our Design Sprint brief, where does the backup assumption or alternative bet from the Foundation Sprint scorecard get mapped?
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
The backup bet is documented as the fallback decision if Friday customer testing invalidates the primary target.
Missed
Passed
case-19 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/18/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
SKILL.md94 lines3 files
Design Sprint Brief
Produce the brief that aligns the team on challenge, sprint questions, participants, customer recruiting, prototype medium, interview format, logistics, and success criteria before Monday begins. A well-built brief prevents Monday morning from opening with re-litigation of "what are we testing this week?"; a missing or vague brief almost guarantees it.
Family contract: docs/reference/skill-families/design-sprint-skills-contract.md. This skill is a member of design-sprint-skills.
When to Use
The readiness verdict from tool-design-sprint-readiness is Go (or Conditional Go with preconditions cleared).
The sprint has dates blocked on calendars and you need the artifact that names what the sprint is for.
The team has customer recruiting active and you need to commit a recruiting plan, honorarium budget, and Friday schedule before recruiting closes.
A skeptical exec wants to know "what is the team doing for five days plus customer cost?" and you need an answer that fits on two pages.
When NOT to Use
The sprint has already started. The brief is a prep artifact, not an in-sprint deliverable. If Monday is happening, run tool-design-sprint-map-and-target instead.
The readiness verdict is Wait. The brief cannot fix an unready team; close the preconditions first, then re-run readiness, then invoke this skill.
The team wants a stakeholder strategy document. The brief is internal prep, not an external deliverable. If a stakeholder document is needed, that is a downstream artifact (the Friday scorecard or the next-step memo).
Customer recruiting has not started. The brief locks the recruiting plan but cannot replace the recruiter. If no recruiter is named, go back to readiness Wait verdict.
What This Skill Produces
A single bundled artifact with nine sections:
Challenge statement and why-now: one paragraph naming the testable challenge and the urgency that justifies a sprint this week vs. later.
Sprint questions: 2-4 specific questions the Friday testing answers. The highest-risk assumption from any prior Foundation Sprint becomes the lead question.
Decider attendance windows: the load-bearing moments (Mon AM, Wed AM, Fri PM at minimum); fully blocked if available.
Team roster with role assignments: who is in the room each day and what role each person plays through the week.
Day 1 (Monday) move of a Design Sprint that produces the bundled Monday artifact containing long-term goal, sprint questions (3-7 testable risks), customer or system map (5-15 step flow), expert interview notes, HMW (How Might We) cluster board, and the Decider's chosen target moment. Use Day 1 morning and afternoon after the sprint brief is locked. Sets the design target for Tuesday's sketches and Wednesday's storyboard.
Close match
+23 pp pass-rate lift
product-on-purpose/tool-design-sprint-sketch
Day 2 (Tuesday) move of a Design Sprint that structures lightning demos and the four-step independent solution sketch protocol (Notes, Ideas, Crazy 8s, Solution Sketch). Each team member produces one solution sketch individually; the skill orchestrates the day but does not author the sketches themselves. Use Tuesday morning after Monday's target moment is locked. Output is the lightning demo board, sketch assignments, and the cohort of independent sketches that become Wednesday's heat-map materi