Why and How to Prototype?

Why is it important to prototype?

It’s not enough to describe your idea. You need to build it. Prototypes are vehicles for learning—ways to test assumptions and start new conversations with stakeholders to see if you are on the right track. You can’t test an abstraction. For example, you don’t know if you have a common understanding of the notion of “campus of care” or “flexible staffing model” until you put it in front of another stakeholder for feedback.

Remember that prototypes aren’t the final product. They’re a tool to learn, really just a way to further your research. You want to keep them simple and rough and not put too much effort into them at the beginning.

How do you prototype?

One of the most powerful and challenging parts is that there is not a step-by-step recipe book for how to build a prototype. Prototyping promotes a bias toward action—make something and learn from it. You don’t need all the answers before you start, in fact you should have many more questions and curiosities than you have answers. You can mock up a floor plan to show physical spaces, use a storyboard to show an experience, create fake promotional material that advertises a program, and sketch just about anything. Your only limit is how far your imagination can take you.

Testing your prototype

The reason you create prototypes is to test them (or get feedback). Before you get too attached to your idea, go out and ask 5 people about the prototype.

Have them interact with it and tell them about the problem and the solution you are proposing. Ask them:

●      What do you like about this prototype?

●      What could be improved?

●      What questions do you have?

●      What new ideas does it make you think of?

Listen deeply and take good notes. Remember that you don’t have to talk to all the people that you may eventually want input from at the beginning, but instead bring them in throughout the process. You will be going through the process over and over again as you make changes to your prototype. Even last minute feedback is helpful because it can allow for course correction and can challenge the way that you are thinking and the solution that comes out.

Continue to iterate

As you move forward with next steps, you might want to send out a feedback survey to get broader feedback or hold a community session to present the current version and gather suggestions for improvements. There is no one right way to do this, but the important thing is that you are continuing to hear the voices of your stakeholders as you go through the various iterations of your prototype. Small, incremental changes will also help to maximize your potential for success because you are checking in all the way along, which allows for course correction as needed.