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  1. About discovery sprints
  2. Prepare
  3. Define
  4. Discover
  5. Design and refine
  6. Deliver
  7. More resources

This playbook is a field guide for people at Bloom Works—or anyone—to navigate a discovery sprint. It includes strategic, actionable guidance to make sprints successful, and it’s full of universal, human-centered approaches that apply to most sprints.

What you'll find in this playbook

For background on what a discovery sprint is, example scenarios and timelines, and key tips for making them successful, go to the About discovery sprints section.

Phases

After the background information, you’ll find 5 sections (or phases), just like a discovery sprint:

  • Prepare -- Get everything you need to prepare for a sprint, leading up to kickoff.
  • Define -- Gain an intimate understanding of the problem space. Start to create a plan to conduct discovery.
  • Discover -- Time to get professionally curious! Find methods and techniques on how to conduct research and synthesis.
  • Design and refine -- Take what you’ve learned in discovery and begin to interpret findings and generate paths forward.
  • Deliver — Present to your clients, ship deliverables, and wrap up the sprint.

Plays

Within each phase, you’ll find several "plays." Each play is a set of instructions on how to complete a sprint milestone. Each play includes:

  • An Overview -- What’s the play, who’s involved, and how do you do it?
  • Checklist -- Things to remember, or activities to complete
  • Key questions -- Prompts for critical thinking and reflection

Discovery sprints are fast-paced, fluid, and vary in scope. If you need to run plays in different orders or add your own, we encourage that. In fact, most sprints aren’t linear and go back and forth between phases — that’s OK!

💡 Tip: If you find an unfamiliar word — or you’re just looking for a specific template — jump to the More resources section at the end of this playbook. In there, you’ll find words that are commonly used in discovery sprints, plus useful links.

How to contribute

This playbook is by no means exhaustive or set in stone. We expect this playbook to expand and change as more people use it and provide feedback. You can suggest a recommendation or correction by opening a pull request or sending us an email.

How to contact us

Want to talk more about discovery sprints? Contact us at hello@bloomworks.digital.


Next section → About discovery sprints