Lock 2 · Design

Solution Blueprint

Turning a validated problem into a complete solution design: user journey, feature scope, and the decisions that make Lock 3 buildable instead of aspirational.

9 minute read · applies to Lock 2

A team mapping a user journey with cards and arrows across a large planning sheet.

A blueprint is a set of decisions, not a wish list

Lock 2 asks for the design you will actually build — which means deciding what you will not build. A blueprint that promises twelve features signals to evaluators that Lock 3 will deliver none of them well. The discipline: one core loop, executed completely.

Your core loop is the smallest sequence of user actions that delivers the value in your problem statement. For a crop-clinic app: photograph → diagnose → safe next step. Everything else — history, community, gamification — is explicitly out of scope until the loop works.

Design the user journey end to end

The failure states matter most. Solution–problem fit carries 20 points in Lock 2, and nothing demonstrates fit like showing you designed for the messy reality — low-end devices, patchy networks, uncertain model outputs — your users actually live in.

Entry: how does the user discover and open the tool, realistically?
First-run: what happens the very first time, with zero data?
Core loop: the repeated action that delivers value
Failure states: what does the user see when the model is unsure, the network is down or the input is bad?
Exit and return: why does the user come back tomorrow?

Improvement from Lock 1 is scored — show it

Fifteen points of Lock 2 reward visible improvement from your Lock 1 feedback. Open your blueprint with a short "what changed" section: each Lock 1 recommendation, and what you did about it. Teams that engage honestly with feedback — including pushing back with reasons — consistently outperform teams that ignore it.

Plan impact measurement now, not at the end

Your blueprint should name the metric Lock 3 will demonstrate: diagnosis accuracy against expert labels, task-completion rate, time saved per case. Choosing it now shapes what you build — if the metric is follow-up completion, the product needs a way to observe follow-ups. The impact-measurement plan is worth 5 points directly, and indirectly it strengthens everything else.

Before you submit — the checklist

One core loop defined; out-of-scope list written down
End-to-end user journey including failure states
A "what changed since Lock 1" section addressing every recommendation
Feature scope honest for the Lock 3 window
The Lock 3 impact metric named and observable in the design

Related guides

Lock 1 · Define

Put this guide to work.

The rubric this guide addresses is waiting inside your team’s build journey.