Validating DISCO's Big Bet: Super Cecilia
A 4-5 week design sprint to take Super Cecilia from concept to board-ready, validated prototype.
SeeSaw Labs
What You're Asking For — And What We Need to Deliver
A Classic Design Sprint
  • 4-5 days, tests one idea with users
  • Validates desirability
  • Leaves gaps in feasibility and viability
  • Limited stakeholder confidence
What DISCO Actually Needs
  • Validated concept package for board approval
  • Evidence of desirability AND trust/adoption with customers
  • Business case artifacts
  • Clear path to build
Bottom line: Our sprint closes this gap.
The SeeSaw Labs 5D's Framework
Discover
Validate the foundation and understand the problem space
Define
Align on what we're solving and success criteria
Design
Explore solutions and decide on direction
Develop
Build and test the prototype with real users
Delight
Iterate on feedback and package for approval
A framework that ensures rigor at every stage - Each D has a clear purpose and outcome.
5D at Every Scale: The Fractal Concept
The 5D loop operates at three levels simultaneously, ensuring compression without cutting corners
Level 1 — Product Level (Macro): The full engagement arc. Discover the opportunity → Define the product strategy → Design the experience → Develop the solution → Delight through iteration and optimization.

Level 2 — Phase Level (Sprint): Within each macro phase, we run compressed 5D loops. Example: Inside the "Design" phase, we discover what interaction patterns work for proactive AI, define the core flows, design the prototypes, develop the prototype fidelity, and delight by testing and refining with real users.

Level 3 — Feature Level (Micro): Each discrete feature or capability (e.g., "Super Cecilia proactively flags a contract risk") goes through its own mini 5D cycle: understand the use case, define the requirements, sketch the interaction, build it into the prototype, validate it.
The Discovery Checkpoint — Confirming Your Foundation
You've done significant discovery. We honor that. But to compress everything that follows, we need to confirm shared ground.
Key Customer
Who specifically uses Super Cecilia? Which lawyers, doing what, in what context?
Core Problem
What validated problem are we solving, from the user's perspective?
Competitive Landscape
What do users do today? What's the behavior change required?
Founding Hypothesis
Why will this approach win? What makes DISCO's version different?

If solid → we move fast, checkpoint takes ~2 days. If gaps → we fill them surgically before sprinting.
The Trust Question
Lawyers don't trust AI. That's the design challenge.
Current Cecilia is reactive - the lawyer stays in control. Super Cecilia is proactive - shifting the power dynamic. For risk-averse professionals, that shift is loaded.
Utility
Is it helpful?
Adoptability
Will they use it?
Trust
Will they rely on it?
The question we need to answer is: "how do you earn the right to be proactive with someone who doesn't trust you yet?"
Our Five D's Design Sprint
Timeline: 4-5 weeks
Anchor: Board meeting at Week 5. This sprint delivers the board-ready package with a buffer week.
Each week maps to a 5D phase. Each week contains its own mini 5D loops within.
Week 1: Discover & Define
Define the long-term goal, map the user journey, and identify critical challenges to tackle.
Week 2: Design
Individually brainstorm and sketch diverse solutions, leveraging creative freedom to explore many ideas. Critically evaluate proposed solutions, select the strongest concepts, and detail the user flow in a storyboard.
Week 3: Develop
Build a realistic, interactive prototype of the chosen solution to simulate the user experience.
Week 4: Delight
Validate the prototype with real target users to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement.
Week 5: Discover
Uncover what worked, how we will go-forward into building, and what we need from the Board.
Week 1
Discover + Define
Goal: Validate the problem is right, the customer is clear, and the sprint is aimed at the right target.
Days 1–2: Discovery Checkpoint
  • Structured working session with DISCO core team
  • Review existing discovery artifacts
  • Pressure-test the four foundation elements
  • Identify and fill any gaps
Days 3–5: Define
  • Align on sprint scope and questions
  • Define Board success criteria
  • Map target user journey and scenarios
  • Output: Sprint Brief - everyone signs off

DISCO commitment: Core team available for 2 day working sessions. Bring all existing research and strategy docs.
Week 2
Design
Goal: Generate, evaluate, and select the strongest solution approach.
Days 6–7: Explore + Sketch
"How Might We" generation from sprint questions. Individual solution sketching to avoid "group think". Lightning demos from legal tech, AI assistants, adjacent domains. Sketch behaviors along with screens.
Days 8–9: Decide + Storyboard
Structured critique and dot voting. Decider makes the call. Build the prototype storyboard. Define prototype scope and fidelity.
Day 10: Begin Prototype
Start building the interactive prototype based on approved storyboard and plan.
Output: Storyboard and prototype plan, approved by Decider

DISCO commitment: Decider available for decision points. Domain experts for content accuracy.
Weeks 3 & 4: Develop + Delight
Week 3: Develop
Days 11–13: Prototype Build
  • High-fidelity interactive prototype
  • "Wizard of Oz" approach for AI behavior
  • Realistic legal scenarios and terminology
Days 14–15: User Testing
  • 5–6 sessions with target legal professionals
  • Testing utility, trust, AND adoptability
  • Whole team observes
Week 4: Delight
Days 16–17: Iterate
  • Targeted refinements based on user feedback
  • Surgical improvements, not a rebuild
Day 18: Re-Test
  • Validate refinements with follow-up sessions
Days 19–20: Package for Board
  • Assemble board-ready recommendation
  • Prep DISCO team to present with confidence
What We Need From DISCO
This sprint is a partnership. Here's the time commitment required from your team to make it successful.
The Decider
  • Week 1: ~8-10 hours (heaviest commitment - discovery checkpoint sessions, defining sprint questions, signing off the Sprint Brief)
  • Week 2: ~3-4 hours (available for key decision points - dot voting, storyboard approval, prototype scope sign-off)
  • Week 3: ~2-3 hours (observe at least 2 user testing sessions, available for quick calls)
  • Week 4: ~4-5 hours (review iterations, align on board package narrative, final sign-off)
Total: ~17-22 hours across 4 weeks
Core Team
Assumed product person, a domain/legal expert, and someone with engineering perspective on what's buildable.
  • Week 1: ~6-8 hours each (working sessions, artifact review, journey mapping)
  • Week 2: ~4-6 hours each (sketching sessions, lightning demos, storyboard input)
  • Week 3: ~2-4 hours each (observe user testing sessions - at least 2-3 of the 5-6 sessions)
  • Week 4: ~2-3 hours each (review iterations, contribute to board package content)
Total: ~14-21 hours each across 4 weeks
User Recruitment
(DISCO's responsibility, SeeSaw supports)
  • 5-6 target legal professionals for Week 3 testing
  • Recruitment needs to start Week 1 to have them scheduled by Week 3
  • DISCO owns the relationship/outreach, SeeSaw provides the screener and scheduling framework
  • Each session: ~45-60 minutes of the participant's time
Artifact Handoff
(one-time, Week 1)
  • All existing discovery work:
  • Any existing research
  • Competitive analysis
  • Strategy docs
  • Existing Cecilia usage data if available
Calendar Protection
  • Weeks 1-2 are the most intensive for DISCO's team
  • Weeks 3-4 shift the workload more to SeeSaw (prototype build, synthesis, packaging)
  • Key constraint: scheduled sessions can't slip. If a Wednesday decision meeting moves to the following Monday, the whole sprint cascades.
Team Structure & Investment
Our Agile Team Composition
1 Product Engineer
Expert in technical solutions and design architecture.
1 Product Designer
Crafting intuitive user experiences and interfaces.
1 Product Manager
Guiding strategy and ensuring product-market fit.
Investment
4-5 Week Execution
$48,000 (full team allocation)