Teams do not have to invent their own growth-driven design paperwork. The method's creators publish a free set of working documents on growthdrivendesign.com, covering strategy (a goals document, persona template, fundamental assumptions template, and journey mapping template), research (the rainbow spreadsheet), and continuous improvement (an action item document and the GDD dashboard for tracking metrics and running the wish list) [1][5]. HubSpot Academy wraps the same system in a free certification course, with a companion course for agencies that deliver GDD as a service [2][3]. The launchpad stage is scoped with that wish list, filtered to only the highest-impact ideas and built as 3 to 5 pages so the site can launch quickly [8]. A prioritization layer sits across every stage: a website hierarchy that ranks work from audience building through personalization [4].
\n","summary":"You do not have to build GDD templates from scratch. The method's creators publish free worksheets for goals, personas, assumptions, journey maps, research, and sprint tracking, and HubSpot Academy teaches the whole system in a free certification. This page maps each template to the stage it serves, from strategy worksheets through the launchpad scope filter to the continuous-improvement backlog tracker, and covers how experienced teams adapt the documents instead of filling them in mechanically.","publishedAt":"2026-07-17T14:26:28.52","verifiedAt":"2026-07-17T00:00:00","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-07-17T14:26:28.399","nextReviewDueAt":"2027-01-17T00:00:00","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["Growth-driven design templates free download","GDD worksheets and checklists","GDD persona and journey mapping templates","HubSpot growth-driven design certification resources","GDD dashboard template","Website redesign planning worksheets","GDD wish list and prioritization sheet","Launchpad scope checklist GDD","Growth-driven design strategy worksheets","Continuous improvement backlog tracker GDD","GDD goals and personas template","growthdrivendesign.com resource center templates"],"confidenceScore":85,"confidenceLabel":"High","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"dc83f9a1-5273-4639-bffb-43d5fa44c2bf","slug":"lean-labs","displayName":"Lean Labs","websiteUrl":"https://lean-labs.com/","sameAs":["https://lean-labs.com/","https://www.linkedin.com/company/lean-labs"]},"contributorOrganizationProfile":{"entityId":"dc83f9a1-5273-4639-bffb-43d5fa44c2bf","legalName":null,"description":"Lean Labs is a HubSpot Diamond Solutions Partner that helps B2B SaaS startups and scaleups grow through AI-powered marketing services, including lead generation websites, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and Loop Marketing. Founded in 2013, the company combines expert strategy with AI agents to deliver scalable, high-ROI growth systems for funded startups from Seed to Series C.","websiteUrl":"https://lean-labs.com/","imageUrl":"https://www.leanlabs.com/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Flogo.0d6c5685.png&w=256&q=75","sameAs":["https://lean-labs.com/","https://www.linkedin.com/company/lean-labs"],"slogan":"Experts at strategy, marketing, design and development augmented by AI","subtitle":"Growth marketing agency ยท HubSpot partner","facts":["Practicing GDD on client sites since 2017","Contributes published answers on 3 topics: Growth-Driven Design, Growth-Driven Design for B2B, Answer Engine Optimization"],"coiNote":"Sells services in this topic. All answers reviewed independently.","foundingDate":"2013-01-01T00:00:00","numberOfEmployeesText":null,"contactPoint":{"email":"hello@lean-labs.com","contactType":"sales"},"address":{"city":"Land O' Lakes","state":"FL","country":"US","postalCode":"34638","addressType":"operational","streetAddress":"16703 Early Riser Ave, Suite 111"},"headquartersText":"Land O' Lakes, FL, US","organizationType":null},"contributorPerson":{"slug":"kevin-barber","displayName":"Kevin Barber"},"sections":[{"id":"b0bf5641-dd0d-4216-ae1a-65b4aa750432","sectionKey":"overview","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What templates and worksheets does growth-driven design use?","introMarkdown":"Growth-driven design runs on a small set of reusable documents, and the method's creators publish them free on growthdrivendesign.com so teams do not have to build the paperwork from scratch [1]. The documents sort into the three stages of the method. Strategy uses a goals document, a persona template, a fundamental assumptions template, and a journey mapping template, all editable files that capture what a team believes before it builds anything [1]. Research uses the rainbow spreadsheet, a tracker for consolidating usability observations across participants [1]. Continuous improvement uses an action item document and the GDD dashboard, which the official tool guide describes as the place to track performance, set the quarterly theme and sprint focus, and manage and prioritize the wish list [1][5]. A prioritization layer sits across all three stages: the GDD hierarchy cheat sheet orders improvement work from audience building through personalization, and independent guides describe the same website hierarchy as the roadmap for deciding what to work on next [1][4].\n\nThe templates are only half of the official toolkit. HubSpot Academy publishes a free Growth-Driven Design certification course that teaches the method the documents support, from strategy and the launchpad through the continuous improvement cycles, plus a companion Growth-Driven Design Agency course for teams that deliver the work as a service [2][3]. That pairing matters, because a filled-in template is only as useful as the thinking behind it. A persona sheet with no research is a guess in a nicer font, and a wish list with no scoring rule is a backlog nobody can act on. The rest of this page walks each document in turn: what it is, the stage it serves, and how experienced teams use it well rather than mechanically.","introHtml":"Growth-driven design runs on a small set of reusable documents, and the method's creators publish them free on growthdrivendesign.com so teams do not have to build the paperwork from scratch [1]. The documents sort into the three stages of the method. Strategy uses a goals document, a persona template, a fundamental assumptions template, and a journey mapping template, all editable files that capture what a team believes before it builds anything [1]. Research uses the rainbow spreadsheet, a tracker for consolidating usability observations across participants [1]. Continuous improvement uses an action item document and the GDD dashboard, which the official tool guide describes as the place to track performance, set the quarterly theme and sprint focus, and manage and prioritize the wish list [1][5]. A prioritization layer sits across all three stages: the GDD hierarchy cheat sheet orders improvement work from audience building through personalization, and independent guides describe the same website hierarchy as the roadmap for deciding what to work on next [1][4].
\nThe templates are only half of the official toolkit. HubSpot Academy publishes a free Growth-Driven Design certification course that teaches the method the documents support, from strategy and the launchpad through the continuous improvement cycles, plus a companion Growth-Driven Design Agency course for teams that deliver the work as a service [2][3]. That pairing matters, because a filled-in template is only as useful as the thinking behind it. A persona sheet with no research is a guess in a nicer font, and a wish list with no scoring rule is a backlog nobody can act on. The rest of this page walks each document in turn: what it is, the stage it serves, and how experienced teams use it well rather than mechanically.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":0},{"id":"3efc393a-1f66-4dc7-a0c9-79e9f2606621","sectionKey":"template_stage_map","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"Which template maps to which stage?","introMarkdown":"Every document below comes from the official growthdrivendesign.com resource center unless noted, and each maps to a stage of the method [1].","introHtml":"Every document below comes from the official growthdrivendesign.com resource center unless noted, and each maps to a stage of the method [1].
\n","outroMarkdown":"The launchpad scope filter is a discipline rather than a single downloadable file: it applies the highest-impact-only rule to the wish list and ships 3 to 5 pages [8]. Each row is described in full in the sections that follow.","outroHtml":"The launchpad scope filter is a discipline rather than a single downloadable file: it applies the highest-impact-only rule to the wish list and ships 3 to 5 pages [8]. Each row is described in full in the sections that follow.
\n","contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Goals document","Strategy","Google Slides","Set measurable website goals before any design starts"]},{"cells":["Persona template","Strategy","Google Slides","Document who the site serves and the questions they bring"]},{"cells":["Fundamental assumptions template","Strategy","Google Slides","Write down what you believe about users before testing it"]},{"cells":["Journey mapping template","Strategy","Google Slides","Map how buyers move toward a decision"]},{"cells":["Rainbow spreadsheet","Research","Google Sheets","Consolidate usability observations across participants"]},{"cells":["GDD hierarchy cheat sheet","Prioritization","Image download","Order work from audience building through personalization"]},{"cells":["Wish list","Launchpad plus continuous improvement","Spreadsheet","Collect and rank every improvement idea"]},{"cells":["Launchpad scope filter","Launchpad","Checklist discipline","Select only the highest-impact ideas, built as 3 to 5 pages"]},{"cells":["Action item document","Continuous improvement","Google Doc","Capture each sprint's committed action items"]},{"cells":["GDD dashboard","Continuous improvement","Spreadsheet dashboard","Track metrics, set the quarterly theme, and run the wish-list backlog"]}],"columns":["Template or worksheet","GDD stage","Format","What you use it for"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":1},{"id":"4e3d86ec-3099-4551-b46f-4646a62ef084","sectionKey":"strategy_worksheets","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How do the strategy worksheets work?","introMarkdown":"The strategy worksheets capture what a team believes about its users and goals before a single page gets designed, and there are four of them [1].\n\n### The goals document\nThe goals document records the measurable outcomes the website is accountable for, such as leads, demo requests, or revenue, before any layout decisions get made [1]. Use it to force agreement on a small number of primary metrics rather than a long list of nice-to-haves. Its value is that every later prioritization call can be checked against it: an idea either moves a stated goal or it waits.\n\n### The persona template\nThe persona template documents who the site serves, what they are trying to accomplish, and the questions, concerns, and objections they carry into a buying decision [1]. Use it as an interview output, not an imagination exercise. Personas built from real conversations with customers, sales, and support hold up under testing, while personas invented in a conference room tend to describe the buyer a team wishes it had.\n\n### The fundamental assumptions template\nThe fundamental assumptions template records what a team currently believes about its users and why, so those beliefs can be tested rather than assumed [1]. Use it to separate fact from hypothesis at the start of a build. Its real payoff arrives later: when the data comes in, the team has a written before-and-after that keeps the learn step honest instead of letting hindsight quietly rewrite what everyone thought.\n\n### The journey mapping template\nThe journey mapping template lays out how a buyer moves from first contact toward a decision, and it feeds directly into page architecture [1]. Use it to decide which pages exist and in what order, not just to illustrate a funnel. A journey map that ends at a form is incomplete; the strongest versions carry the buyer through the questions they ask at each step and name the page that answers each one.","introHtml":"The strategy worksheets capture what a team believes about its users and goals before a single page gets designed, and there are four of them [1].
\nThe goals document records the measurable outcomes the website is accountable for, such as leads, demo requests, or revenue, before any layout decisions get made [1]. Use it to force agreement on a small number of primary metrics rather than a long list of nice-to-haves. Its value is that every later prioritization call can be checked against it: an idea either moves a stated goal or it waits.
\nThe persona template documents who the site serves, what they are trying to accomplish, and the questions, concerns, and objections they carry into a buying decision [1]. Use it as an interview output, not an imagination exercise. Personas built from real conversations with customers, sales, and support hold up under testing, while personas invented in a conference room tend to describe the buyer a team wishes it had.
\nThe fundamental assumptions template records what a team currently believes about its users and why, so those beliefs can be tested rather than assumed [1]. Use it to separate fact from hypothesis at the start of a build. Its real payoff arrives later: when the data comes in, the team has a written before-and-after that keeps the learn step honest instead of letting hindsight quietly rewrite what everyone thought.
\nThe journey mapping template lays out how a buyer moves from first contact toward a decision, and it feeds directly into page architecture [1]. Use it to decide which pages exist and in what order, not just to illustrate a funnel. A journey map that ends at a form is incomplete; the strongest versions carry the buyer through the questions they ask at each step and name the page that answers each one.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":2},{"id":"bfc26d7f-bc61-4006-9906-84ef1b652cca","sectionKey":"wishlist_prioritization","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How does the wish list and prioritization sheet work?","introMarkdown":"The wish list is the running backlog of every improvement idea a team could make to the site, gathered from analytics, user research, sales feedback, and stakeholder requests [1]. The prioritization sheet ranks that backlog so the team always knows the next highest-value move. During continuous improvement the ranked wish list lives inside the official GDD dashboard, which the tool guide describes as the place to manage and prioritize the wish list alongside performance tracking [5].\n\nTo use it well, score ideas against a stated rule rather than gut feel. Many teams order the list with the website hierarchy, which ranks work across eight elements from audience building up through personalization, so foundational fixes come before advanced personalization that would only sit on a weak base [4]. Keep the list alive between sprints. A wish list that gets opened only during planning turns stale; the teams that get the most from it add to it continuously as new data and requests arrive, then re-rank at each sprint boundary [1]. The sheet does two jobs at once here. It is the intake for every idea so nothing gets lost, and it is the ranked queue that decides what the next sprint actually builds, which is why the ranking method matters as much as the list [4][5].","introHtml":"The wish list is the running backlog of every improvement idea a team could make to the site, gathered from analytics, user research, sales feedback, and stakeholder requests [1]. The prioritization sheet ranks that backlog so the team always knows the next highest-value move. During continuous improvement the ranked wish list lives inside the official GDD dashboard, which the tool guide describes as the place to manage and prioritize the wish list alongside performance tracking [5].
\nTo use it well, score ideas against a stated rule rather than gut feel. Many teams order the list with the website hierarchy, which ranks work across eight elements from audience building up through personalization, so foundational fixes come before advanced personalization that would only sit on a weak base [4]. Keep the list alive between sprints. A wish list that gets opened only during planning turns stale; the teams that get the most from it add to it continuously as new data and requests arrive, then re-rank at each sprint boundary [1]. The sheet does two jobs at once here. It is the intake for every idea so nothing gets lost, and it is the ranked queue that decides what the next sprint actually builds, which is why the ranking method matters as much as the list [4][5].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":3},{"id":"4c278627-3312-4d69-aae3-84f4190cc969","sectionKey":"launchpad_scope_checklist","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What goes on the launchpad scope checklist?","introMarkdown":"The launchpad scope checklist is the filter that turns a long wish list into a short build plan, and its governing rule is to start with only the highest-impact ideas rather than the whole list [8]. In practice that resolves to 3 to 5 highest-impact pages instead of a full site, so the new site can launch quickly and start collecting real user data in a fraction of the time a traditional redesign takes [8].\n\nUse the checklist to make scope decisions explicit and defensible. Each candidate page or feature earns its place by moving a stated goal from the goals document, not by being someone's preference. Items that do not make the first cut are not deleted; they move back to the wish list to be funded later by the performance the launchpad earns. The discipline the checklist enforces is restraint. A launchpad is meant to be a strong, publishable starting point rather than a finished site, and the pull to add just one more page is exactly what the highest-impact-only rule exists to resist [8]. A useful test for each line on the checklist: if this page were missing at launch, would a real buyer be unable to make a decision? If the answer is no, it belongs in a later sprint.","introHtml":"The launchpad scope checklist is the filter that turns a long wish list into a short build plan, and its governing rule is to start with only the highest-impact ideas rather than the whole list [8]. In practice that resolves to 3 to 5 highest-impact pages instead of a full site, so the new site can launch quickly and start collecting real user data in a fraction of the time a traditional redesign takes [8].
\nUse the checklist to make scope decisions explicit and defensible. Each candidate page or feature earns its place by moving a stated goal from the goals document, not by being someone's preference. Items that do not make the first cut are not deleted; they move back to the wish list to be funded later by the performance the launchpad earns. The discipline the checklist enforces is restraint. A launchpad is meant to be a strong, publishable starting point rather than a finished site, and the pull to add just one more page is exactly what the highest-impact-only rule exists to resist [8]. A useful test for each line on the checklist: if this page were missing at launch, would a real buyer be unable to make a decision? If the answer is no, it belongs in a later sprint.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":4},{"id":"704e37d7-19e2-4eb2-a30a-6275f2d2a115","sectionKey":"continuous_improvement_tracker","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How does the continuous-improvement tracker work?","introMarkdown":"The continuous-improvement tracker is the GDD dashboard, the document that carries performance metrics, the running experiment backlog, and the plan for each sprint from one cycle to the next [5]. The official tool guide describes it as the single place to track performance, set the quarterly theme and sprint focus, and manage and prioritize the wish list [5]. The action item document works alongside it, capturing the specific tasks each sprint commits to [1].\n\nUse the two together on a fixed rhythm. Practitioners describe a cadence of short sprint cycles on individual improvements, punctuated by quarterly summits that review what shipped and set the next quarter's focus, and the dashboard is what carries context between those two rhythms so no sprint starts from a blank page [7]. Record the result of every experiment, not just the ones that win. A backlog that logs both the changes that moved a metric and the ones that did not is what keeps a team from re-testing the same idea a year later, and it is the raw material for the quarterly review [7]. The continuous improvement stage has no end date, which is why the tracker is a living document rather than a project artifact you close out and archive [7].","introHtml":"The continuous-improvement tracker is the GDD dashboard, the document that carries performance metrics, the running experiment backlog, and the plan for each sprint from one cycle to the next [5]. The official tool guide describes it as the single place to track performance, set the quarterly theme and sprint focus, and manage and prioritize the wish list [5]. The action item document works alongside it, capturing the specific tasks each sprint commits to [1].
\nUse the two together on a fixed rhythm. Practitioners describe a cadence of short sprint cycles on individual improvements, punctuated by quarterly summits that review what shipped and set the next quarter's focus, and the dashboard is what carries context between those two rhythms so no sprint starts from a blank page [7]. Record the result of every experiment, not just the ones that win. A backlog that logs both the changes that moved a metric and the ones that did not is what keeps a team from re-testing the same idea a year later, and it is the raw material for the quarterly review [7]. The continuous improvement stage has no end date, which is why the tracker is a living document rather than a project artifact you close out and archive [7].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":5},{"id":"1c07da7e-e10c-42a1-8844-02f84f3f6f54","sectionKey":"official_resources","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Where do the HubSpot Academy and growthdrivendesign.com resources fit?","introMarkdown":"The official resources come from two places. growthdrivendesign.com hosts the resource center with the working documents, the hierarchy cheat sheet, methodology graphics, a what-is-GDD slide deck for internal pitching, and links to the GDD Slack community [1]. HubSpot Academy hosts the training: a free Growth-Driven Design certification course that teaches the full method the documents support, and a separate Growth-Driven Design Agency course for teams that sell the work as a service, including how to package ongoing improvement retainers [2][3].\n\nUse the certification to build shared vocabulary before a team fills in a single template, because the course explains why each artifact exists: what a fundamental assumption is, how a journey map feeds page architecture, and how the wish list gets prioritized into sprints [2]. HubSpot's Academy course frames the payoff of the method as launching a site with less risk and then improving it continuously with real user data rather than guesses, which is the case most teams make internally to get the program approved [2]. Both sets of resources are free, which removes cost as a reason to skip the setup work the method depends on [1][2].","introHtml":"The official resources come from two places. growthdrivendesign.com hosts the resource center with the working documents, the hierarchy cheat sheet, methodology graphics, a what-is-GDD slide deck for internal pitching, and links to the GDD Slack community [1]. HubSpot Academy hosts the training: a free Growth-Driven Design certification course that teaches the full method the documents support, and a separate Growth-Driven Design Agency course for teams that sell the work as a service, including how to package ongoing improvement retainers [2][3].
\nUse the certification to build shared vocabulary before a team fills in a single template, because the course explains why each artifact exists: what a fundamental assumption is, how a journey map feeds page architecture, and how the wish list gets prioritized into sprints [2]. HubSpot's Academy course frames the payoff of the method as launching a site with less risk and then improving it continuously with real user data rather than guesses, which is the case most teams make internally to get the program approved [2]. Both sets of resources are free, which removes cost as a reason to skip the setup work the method depends on [1][2].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":6},{"id":"c373e4d7-fffa-4572-a5cf-16f4989510ee","sectionKey":"contributor_perspective","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Lean Labs' perspective","introMarkdown":"Lean Labs treats the official documents as a floor rather than a ceiling, and runs its engagements on frameworks the agency built across more than 100 HubSpot builds [6]. Before any page is designed, its team structures research into a messaging framework, because the agency attributes roughly 80% of a website's results to messaging and buyer journey rather than visual design [6]. Its journey maps go past the standard template by mapping cold, warm, and hot audiences separately and defining page flows that move a visitor from problem-aware to solution-aware to product-aware, usually in two to four steps per core solution [6]. For prioritization, founder Kevin Barber's team scores every wish-list item with ICE, weighing impact, confidence, and ease, and it runs a triage check before any cosmetic work: bounce and exit rates on high-traffic entrance pages come first, then conversion rate on offer pages [6]. The agency's caution about templates is direct. A document filled in without research behind it produces a confident-looking strategy that has never met a real buyer, which is the failure the fundamental assumptions and persona worksheets exist to prevent.","introHtml":"Lean Labs treats the official documents as a floor rather than a ceiling, and runs its engagements on frameworks the agency built across more than 100 HubSpot builds [6]. Before any page is designed, its team structures research into a messaging framework, because the agency attributes roughly 80% of a website's results to messaging and buyer journey rather than visual design [6]. Its journey maps go past the standard template by mapping cold, warm, and hot audiences separately and defining page flows that move a visitor from problem-aware to solution-aware to product-aware, usually in two to four steps per core solution [6]. For prioritization, founder Kevin Barber's team scores every wish-list item with ICE, weighing impact, confidence, and ease, and it runs a triage check before any cosmetic work: bounce and exit rates on high-traffic entrance pages come first, then conversion rate on offer pages [6]. The agency's caution about templates is direct. A document filled in without research behind it produces a confident-looking strategy that has never met a real buyer, which is the failure the fundamental assumptions and persona worksheets exist to prevent.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":"Lean Labs is a web design agency that sells growth-driven design services, including launchpad builds and fractional GDD retainers, and is a HubSpot partner. Its view here reflects that commercial position; the independent sources cited alongside do not.","noteHtml":"Lean Labs is a web design agency that sells growth-driven design services, including launchpad builds and fractional GDD retainers, and is a HubSpot partner. Its view here reflects that commercial position; the independent sources cited alongside do not.
\n","sortOrder":7},{"id":"bce29d02-9afb-49ec-afb8-2c95df7953cc","sectionKey":"limits","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How should teams use these templates without over-relying on them?","introMarkdown":"The templates encode the method's minimum, not its ceiling, so the main risk is treating a completed document as finished thinking [1].\n\n### A filled-in template is not a validated strategy\nA completed worksheet feels like progress, but a persona or assumptions sheet written without research is a hypothesis, not a finding [1]. Use the documents to structure interviews with customers, sales, and support, then revise the sheets against what those conversations reveal.\n\n### The wish list needs a scoring rule\nA backlog with no ranking method turns into a list of everyone's preferences, which is why the hierarchy and a scoring model matter as much as the list itself [4]. Pick one prioritization rule and apply it consistently so the order of work stays defensible rather than political.\n\n### The templates are a starting point you will outgrow\nMature teams typically extend the official documents with their own scoring models and research formats rather than abandoning them [7]. Treat the free templates as the shared baseline, then adapt the fields to the questions your market actually asks.\n\n### The dashboard only helps if it stays current\nA tracker that is updated once a quarter cannot guide a sprint, and the continuous improvement stage has no end date, so the dashboard has to be maintained as a living document [7]. Update metrics and log experiment results every cycle, not only at the quarterly review.","introHtml":"The templates encode the method's minimum, not its ceiling, so the main risk is treating a completed document as finished thinking [1].
\nA completed worksheet feels like progress, but a persona or assumptions sheet written without research is a hypothesis, not a finding [1]. Use the documents to structure interviews with customers, sales, and support, then revise the sheets against what those conversations reveal.
\nA backlog with no ranking method turns into a list of everyone's preferences, which is why the hierarchy and a scoring model matter as much as the list itself [4]. Pick one prioritization rule and apply it consistently so the order of work stays defensible rather than political.
\nMature teams typically extend the official documents with their own scoring models and research formats rather than abandoning them [7]. Treat the free templates as the shared baseline, then adapt the fields to the questions your market actually asks.
\nA tracker that is updated once a quarter cannot guide a sprint, and the continuous improvement stage has no end date, so the dashboard has to be maintained as a living document [7]. Update metrics and log experiment results every cycle, not only at the quarterly review.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":8}],"citations":[{"title":"GDD Deep Dive [for marketers] Resource Center","url":"https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/gdd-deep-drive-resource-center","excerpt":"Resources include a Goals Document, Persona Template, Fundamental Assumptions Template, Journey Mapping Template, Rainbow Spreadsheet Template, Action Item Document, and a GDD Dashboard for tracking progress and metrics.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-17T00:00:00","supportsText":"Lists the official free GDD templates: goals document, persona template, fundamental assumptions template, and journey mapping template (Google Slides), rainbow spreadsheet (Google Sheets), action item document (Google Doc), GDD dashboard, hierarchy cheat sheet, what-is-GDD slide deck, and community","domain":"growthdrivendesign.com","publisherName":"Growth-Driven Design"},{"title":"Growth-Driven Design Certification Course","url":"https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/growth-driven-design","excerpt":"HubSpot Academy's free Growth-Driven Design course teaches the methodology behind building and continuously improving websites using the GDD framework.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-17T00:00:00","supportsText":"Free certification course teaching the growth-driven design method, including the strategy, launchpad, and continuous improvement stages the official templates support.","domain":"academy.hubspot.com","publisherName":"HubSpot Academy"},{"title":"Growth Driven Design for Agencies Certification Course","url":"https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/growth-driven-design-agency","excerpt":"HubSpot Academy offers a dedicated Growth-Driven Design Agency course for teams delivering GDD services to clients.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-17T00:00:00","supportsText":"Companion HubSpot Academy course covering how agencies deliver growth-driven design as a service, including packaging ongoing improvement retainers.","domain":"academy.hubspot.com","publisherName":"HubSpot Academy"},{"title":"Growth Driven Design","url":"https://www.connectlabs.co/guide/growth-driven-design","excerpt":"The methodology uses a website hierarchy roadmap to prioritize improvements across eight elements, from audience building through personalization.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-07-17T00:00:00","supportsText":"Describes the website hierarchy used to prioritize GDD improvements across eight elements from audience building through personalization, and the post-launch wish-list workflow the templates serve.","domain":"connectlabs.co","publisherName":"Connect Labs"},{"title":"Recommended Tools for Growth-Driven Design","url":"https://www.growthdrivendesign.com/blog/recommended-tools","excerpt":"GDD Dashboard: track performance, plan the quarterly theme, sprint focus, and manage prioritize the wishlist.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-17T00:00:00","supportsText":"Describes the GDD Dashboard as the tool to track performance, plan the quarterly theme and sprint focus, and manage and prioritize the wish list.","domain":"growthdrivendesign.com","publisherName":"Growth-Driven Design"},{"title":"What is growth-driven design? The complete guide to smarter website builds","url":"https://www.leanlabs.com/blog/what-is-growth-driven-design","excerpt":"MessageRocket structures research into messaging frameworks; continuous improvement uses the ICE method (impact, confidence, ease) to test and refine high-traffic pages with weak performance metrics.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"CONTRIBUTOR","verifiedAt":"2026-07-17T00:00:00","supportsText":"Describes Lean Labs' frameworks layered on the official templates: MessageRocket messaging frameworks, staged buyer journey maps, ICE scoring for sprint planning, and the 80/20 weighting of messaging over visual design.","domain":"leanlabs.com","publisherName":"Lean Labs"},{"title":"Improvement Stages of Growth-Driven Design","url":"https://www.marketveep.com/blog/continuous-improvement-stage-of-growth-driven-design","excerpt":"Quarterly Summits: collaborative meetings to discuss achievements and plan the next quarter. 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The method's creators publish a free set of working documents on growthdrivendesign.com, covering strategy (a goals document, persona template, fundamental assumptions template, and journey mapping template), research (the rainbow spreadsheet), and continuous improvement (an action item document and the GDD dashboard for tracking metrics and running the wish list) [1][5]. HubSpot Academy wraps the same system in a free certification course, with a companion course for agencies that deliver GDD as a service [2][3]. The launchpad stage is scoped with that wish list, filtered to only the highest-impact ideas and built as 3 to 5 pages so the site can launch quickly [8]. 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