Pre-sprint diagnostic that determines whether a team should run a Design Sprint now, postpone it, or do prerequisite work first. Produces a Go / Conditional Go / Wait verdict with diagnosis, recommended preconditions, attendee list, customer recruiting plan, and pre-sprint activities.
SkillScore95Maintained
Automatic
◆Product Management pack
Last verified 8/18/2026
What it changes
Passed 21 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 7 of 22 without it.
Without skill32%
With skill95%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
The readiness verdict is assigned as Go.
The readiness verdict is assigned as Wait.
The document ends with a Decider Checkpoint block.
and 9 more in the full report
15 fixed6 passed either way0 still failing1 broke
Pass-rate lift
+64 pp
Tokens
+99%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
+24%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/18/2026v121 of 22 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
One of 15 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
1 of 15
Prompt
Our team recently wrapped up a strategy exploration where we identified our riskiest assumption: SMB store managers will accept AI-generated inventory forecasts. We want to test this hypothesis through an interactive prototype, but before committing our calendar, we need to know if we are ready. The team consists of 6 core members, and our CEO can commit to key decision windows. We can recruit test participants through our research panel vendor within 8 days. Please conduct a sprint readiness assessment and output the complete diagnostic report containing the decision verdict, diagnosis of current readiness, needed preconditions, suggested attendee list, customer recruiting plan, and pre-sprint prep activities.
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
The output concludes with a Decider Checkpoint section for sign-off.
Missed
Passed
The readiness verdict is assigned as Conditional Go.
Passed
Passed
case-02 · 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.md102 lines3 files
Design Sprint Readiness
Assess whether a Design Sprint fits the team's current situation. Design Sprint failure modes are expensive: five consecutive days of a 4-7 person team, plus customer recruiting cost (typically 5 strangers paid honoraria), plus the prototype build. A 30-45 minute readiness diagnostic catches the failure modes before that commitment is made.
Family contract: docs/reference/skill-families/design-sprint-skills-contract.md. This skill is a member of design-sprint-skills and conforms to the family frontmatter and Decider Checkpoint requirements.
When to Use
A team is considering starting a Design Sprint and needs a fast diagnosis before committing five days plus customer recruiting effort.
A team has just completed a Foundation Sprint and is deciding whether the next test should be a Design Sprint, a smaller experiment, or direct build. The Founding Hypothesis is consumed as optional input context (no separate bridge skill artifact is required).
An existing sprint commitment is on the calendar and the team wants to validate that prerequisites (Decider, customers, prototype medium) are in place.
Re-running a Design Sprint after an inconclusive first sprint: use to confirm the new challenge framing and customer access are ready.
When NOT to Use
The team has already decided to run the sprint and just needs the brief. Use tool-design-sprint-brief instead.
The team has no clear challenge and is still in discovery. Run problem framing or a Foundation Sprint first; a Design Sprint depends on a sprint-worthy challenge.
Low-stakes tweaks where five days of team time would be disproportionate. Use a lighter experiment design instead.
No customer access for Friday testing and no realistic recruiting plan. A Design Sprint that cannot test on Friday is just a four-day workshop with no learning event.
No Decider available and one cannot be appointed. Design Sprint requires fast decisions Wednesday and pre-test Thursday; without authority the sprint produces options without commitment.
What This Skill Produces
A single bundled artifact with six sections:
Readiness verdict: Go / Conditional Go / Wait
Diagnosis: what is in place, what is missing, what is uncertain
Recommended preconditions (when verdict is Wait or Conditional Go): the prerequisite work the team should do before the sprint
Recommended attendee list (when verdict is Go or Conditional Go): the 4-7 people who should be in the room, with role expectations
Customer recruiting plan (when verdict is Go or Conditional Go): target profile, source, count, incentive, recruiter owner, recruiting deadline (typically 7-10 days before Friday)
Pre-sprint activities (when verdict is Go): the prep work to complete in the days before Monday
See references/TEMPLATE.md for the canonical structure and references/EXAMPLE.md for a worked example using the Brainshelf book-catalog thread.
Inference Inputs
The skill runs an inference pass over these inputs to produce the verdict:
Day 2 morning move of a Foundation Sprint. Forces generation of 3 to 7 candidate approaches as one-page summaries before the team converges on a top bet. Use after Day 1 is signed and before Magic Lenses on Day 2 afternoon. Enforces a minimum of 3 approaches to prevent first-idea anchoring. Each approach summary names what it is, why it serves the differentiators, and includes a simple visual.