Prototyping
A prototype is a question, not a small version of the finished thing. This lesson covers making something rough enough to be honest, quick enough to be worth doing, and specific enough to get a real reaction.
After this lesson you can
- State the question a prototype is asking before you start building it.
- Match the fidelity to that question rather than to the time in the plan.
- Use roughness deliberately, as permission to criticise.
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The film runs two or three minutes. Everything else on this page is open.
Module Overview
Prototyping is getting an idea out of your head and into something real as fast as possible. It aligns a team almost immediately, because you find out what each of you was actually picturing. It is not there to validate the idea or prove you were right; it is there to help you learn, and an idea that changes under feedback is the process working.
The film runs through the options: physical models, a press release to force out what is genuinely exciting, role play for anything involving human interaction, video you can watch back, a graphical interface for apps and software, a process map for a new way of working, and a user journey map showing the future state rather than the current one. Storyboards are its favourite starting point whatever you are building, because they show the person, the solution and the benefit in one view.
Whichever you pick, get it in front of real users before you become attached to it. Then change what the feedback tells you to change and go round again quickly. Prototype single elements rather than the whole thing, pick the method that suits the element, identify the individual assumptions inside the idea, and keep it rough. Polish at this stage mostly buys you reluctance to throw it away.
Where this usually goes wrong
- Building a small version of the finished product instead of asking something.
- Polishing until it looks decided, at which point people stop telling you it is wrong.
- Prototyping the part you already know works.
Check it landed
3 questions, and one of them has no right answer. You get the reasoning either way.
What is a prototype for?
Your prototype looks finished. What does that cost you?
How long should a first prototype take?
Sign in to answer these and see the reasoning behind each one.
Put it to work
12 templates go with this lesson. Each one has its own guide on when and how to use it.
