In short: You can, but I wouldn't do it. Grounding a Design Sprint in research really helps, and there are smart ways to do it easily: like inviting experts, field workers or users, or compiling previous internal or external research.

A critic that is already fixed by practitioners

One common critique of Design Sprints is the lack of preliminary research. Without this foundation, the sprint might not reflect real user data or behavior, making it inefficient for participants. All my colleagues who organize Design Sprints do some sort of research before the sprint to have a better understanding of the context before starting.

Check previous research

When I work with larger organizations, I always check for existing research first that comes both from the organization and from outside the organisation. Often, valuable insights are already available but overlooked. Compiling these findings helps ensure the sprint is grounded in solid research.

Choosing experts for the first day

In the first day of a typical design sprint, there is a bit of an interview time with experts.

These can be academics, internal staff familiar with the target group, or frontline workers with practical insights. I also like to add users in expert interviews as they are directly affected.

Users as sprint participants

I haven't tried this yet, but I plan to include end users as participants in future sprints. This way, we can gather constant user feedback throughout the process. It’s a step towards making our work even more relevant and grounded.

Preparation Time Matters

Many colleagues incorporate a "day zero" or preparation phase to conduct initial research. As said before, contrary to some critiques, most facilitators I know do some level of research before starting a sprint.

But the amount of preparation and pre-research depends on how mature the challenge and framing already is, who are the participants of the sprint and how much time you have for the preparation.

Written with AI help
This article was is based on an audio note I recorded while walking which was transcribed and rewritten by the app Audiopen. I then reviewed it manually :)