Impact sprints

Design Sprints for Social Impact

Turn ideas into service change in a fun, fast and focused way
When the challenge is complex and there isn’t necessarily a clear answer, you may need a new approach.  

Impact Sprints tackle messy problems, helping to go from confusion to clarity in 5 days.  

Within a week you’ll turn ideas into prototypes that can be tested with service users and staff to understand the true impact of an idea.

Day 1


Day 2


Day 3


Day 4


Day 5


From Google to Social Impact

Making a Difference

Google started a revolution. Design Sprints have become a global phenomenon that tech giants use to rapidly take an idea from concept to reality.
We have combined elements of IT service design with our experience of change in social impact organisations to structure the week and facilitate it to enable you to redesign end-to-end services.
One of the fundamental differences between Design Sprints and our Impact Sprints is that you’ll get user input and testing at multiple points, not just the end.


Increasing demand on services for vulnerable people, as well as financial and societal challenges in this sector means we don’t necessarily have the answers anymore.
We are having to focus, get creative, come up with innovative ideas for doing things differently, and quickly test them out to get feedback.
The answer is Impact Sprints.
Bring together a team of people involved in the delivery of a service who feel the pain, and have the skills needed to overcome it.
Create the space for them to stop firefighting and make concrete progress on challenges, quickly.

The Process

From confusion to clarity in 5 days

We go through a defined and facilitated process to take you from the problem space to prototyping solutions and implementation within just 5 days. The key differentiator for Impact Sprints is the user input and testing at multiple points, not just the end.

Day 0 - Enquire

Short, sharp enquiry from stakeholders and users as to their understanding of the issues, opportunities and key challenges.

Day 1 - Explore

Setting the challenge in a clear, concise and transparent way so the team can use day 1 to deep dive in to the root causes of the issues surrounding the focus.

Resulting in an ordered opportunity list going in to day 2.

Day 2 - Create

Taking those root causes and working up ideas, creating testable solutions that are free from restraint of organisational norms.

Resulting in opportunities that have been visualised to validate in day 3.

Day 3 - Validate

Testing ideas with stakeholders, users and supporting peers to ascertain validity.

Iterating based on feedback in order to prototype the solution on day 4.

Day 4 - Prototype

True testing through prototyping. Working the idea through in real time, with real services to learn and measure impact.

Resulting in a validated prototype that can grow in scope and scale.

Day 5 - Release

Final testing before actual 'go live' and releasing the prototype in to the organisation.

The Innovators

Working with clients to find innovative outcomes

Matt, Rebecca and Dennis have been helping people turn ideas into improved services for over many years. They facilitate Impact Sprints end to end, from concept to delivery and legacy. Working with clients to find innovative outcomes for service users and reinvigorate the workforce.

Rebecca Roberts


Some of our clients

What people say about Impact Sprints

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