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Home » Methods » Prototyping

Prototyping

Lack of needs orientation
Min. 2 project managers
medium
1 hour – several days
  • Adobe XD or Figma as prototyping platform
  • Alternatively: Digital whiteboard: Miro or Mural
  • Video conferencing: Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc.

Explanation of the method

  1. First, ask yourself what insights you want to gain from creating your prototype. This should be your focus.
  2. Create a rough draft of your prototype. Think about how you want your prototype to be tested by users or how you want to receive feedback.
  3. Now design an actual prototype based on the information gathered from the quick draft. This is a small working model of the required system. It does not have to be, or should not be, a perfect product.
  4.  During the prototyping process you should keep the following principles in mind:
    • Fail often and early: Fast and iterative cycles allow difficulties to be identified early.
    • Fail forward: Accept failures as part of the process. Thus, to fail is to learn quickly.
    • Make it tangible: Develop your prototype as tangible as possible.
    • Test with customers and users: Test your prototype with your target group. Validation by users should be done as early as possible to learn as quickly as possible. Use the insights gained for your next prototype.

Advantages

  • Prototyping makes it possible to make a product/service more tangible.
  • Prototyping uncovers problems and challenges at an early stage.
  • Prototyping can save costs by not entering the market with a product/service that does not meet user needs.
  • Prototyping enables both efficient product design as well as higher user acceptance.

Disadvantages

  • Prototyping takes a lot of time for recurrent development and for gathering feedback.
  • The worst-case scenario of any prototype is that users mistake it for the finished project and may not understand that it is not the finished product.
  • Users may also be excited about features of the prototype that are not part of the final system..

Advice from practice

  • Start prototyping early so that your product/service will be best adapted to the needs of the users in the end.
  • Internalize the principle of "fail forward". See failure as part of the process because it's the failures that allow you to adapt quickly during the process, reducing overall risk.
  • There are different types of prototyping. Educate yourself on them and choose the method that works for you.
  • Start with simple and small features of the product/service and add new features only over time.
  • Perfection is poison for any prototyping process.
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