Rapid Prototyping
The practice of building quick, cheap, tangible representations of ideas to test assumptions and generate feedback before investing in development. Rapid prototyping embraces imperfection deliberately — the goal is to fail fast and learn, not to produce something impressive. A prototype that takes 30 minutes and breaks reveals the same insight as one that took 3 weeks.
Comment l'animer
- 1
Define what assumption you're testing before you start. A prototype without a learning goal is just a model.
- 2
Choose the lowest-fidelity format that can test your assumption: paper sketch, cardboard model, role-play script, clickable mock-up.
- 3
Build it. Timebox strictly (20-45 min). Ugly is fine — it's not the point.
- 4
Test with a real user or stakeholder. Show, don't explain. Watch what they do, not just what they say.
- 5
Capture observations: what confused them? What worked? What surprised you?
- 6
Decide: iterate (tweak the prototype and test again), pivot (fundamentally change the idea), or proceed (build it).
Conseils
The fidelity of your prototype should match your confidence level. Low confidence = paper. High confidence = high-fidelity.
Don't explain the prototype during testing. If they don't understand it, that's data.
Multiple rough prototypes beat one polished one — test more ideas, faster.
Use role-play to prototype services and conversations, not just products.
Variantes
Wizard of Oz prototype: simulate functionality manually behind the scenes while users interact with a front-end. Powerful for testing AI/automated features.Storyboard prototype: draw a comic-strip sequence showing how a user would experience the solution.
Contextes d'utilisation
Méthodes associées
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