Walk in warm.
Build Day is six and a half working hours. The day rewards teams that arrive already loaded — spec read, mindset right, tools verified, slides not started yet. Find your role below. Open your checklist. Cross things off. Show up on April 17 ready to build, not ready to figure out what you're supposed to be doing.
Builder
Tools verified. Deploy target chosen and pre-deployed. MVP slice rehearsed. Builder Sync attended. The technical lead walks in fully loaded.
Product Owner
Run the recorded self-assignment meeting. Brief the team in writing. Lock the working agreement. The pre-day quarterback warms up before the day starts.
Client Advocate
Read the spec from a buyer's seat. Draft the questions a real procurement decision-maker would ask. Show up sharp, not polite.
Narrator
Read the spec. Draft a 30-second value prop you'll iterate on the day. Familiarize yourself with the demo arc shape so you're not designing the pitch from scratch at 3:15 PM.
Market Analyst
Read the spec. Sketch the likely competitive landscape. Have your research tools bookmarked so the morning isn't spent on Google.
Pricing Strategist
Read the spec. Identify the cost-replaced anchor. Anticipate the standard objections you'll defend in Q&A.
Two roles — Builder and Product Owner — have heavy pre-flight. Multi-step, multi-day. The other four are light — read the spec, bring the right mindset, show up. Both kinds matter.
The light pages especially. Non-builder roles tend to under-prep because nobody told them they should prep at all. If you're a Narrator and you walked in cold, you'd waste the first 30 minutes of Build Sprint 2 figuring out what story you're telling. Ten minutes of pre-flight prevents that.