Zoom breakout timer for design sprints
Shared breakout timers for design sprints
Timeboxes are the engine of a sprint
Design sprints run on disciplined timeboxes — Crazy 8s, solo sketching, silent voting, speed critiques. The moment groups scatter into Zoom breakout rooms, those timeboxes go invisible and the sprint loses its rhythm. CrowdTimer makes the timebox shared and visible in every room.
Every room on the same beat
Start a countdown for an exercise and every breakout room follows it, so all groups sketch, vote, or critique within the same window. You keep a sprint-facilitator view of the timer and the remaining extensions across the whole session.
A pressure valve that doesn't break the sprint
When a critique is landing somewhere useful, a participant can request +1 minute instead of cutting it short. CrowdTimer caps and shows remaining extensions, so you protect sprint momentum while still allowing a beat more when it counts.
Keep distributed teams together
Sprint participants on a phone browser follow the same timebox as everyone else — they enter a name, pick their room, and see the same countdown, so a distributed sprint stays in lockstep.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run the same timebox across all sprint rooms?
Yes. One CrowdTimer countdown drives every breakout room, so each exercise — sketching, voting, critique — runs in the same window across the whole sprint.
Can a group get a little more time on an exercise?
A participant can request +1 minute for their room. The facilitator sees how many extensions remain, so the sprint keeps momentum without overrunning.
How do I know when rooms have finished an exercise?
Teams mark their room done, giving the facilitator a live view so you can move to the next sprint activity when rooms are ready.
What if a participant is on their phone?
They scan a QR code, enter a name, choose their breakout room, and follow the same shared timebox from the browser.