What is a prototype?
A prototype is a representation of an early stage concept that precedes it’s finished state. High-fidelity prototypes may closely represent a finished design, it’s visual and physical components and some (hopefully most) functionality. Testing with customers ultimately allows you to gain valuable quality feedback from customers to refine ideas before investing in development!
The steps shared below are designed for:
- Both corporate intrapreneurs and budding entrepreneurs
- Non-techy’s with ideas to develop using not a single line of code
- Learn fast, fail cheaply with the steps below costing no more than £20!!
The steps to follow for a single cycle of testing with zero coding should be as follows:
Idea Stage
- Identify customer friction points and develop problem statements
- Develop customer personas and use cases
- Generate big ideas to address problem statements
- Refine ideas with input from trusted advisers (friends/ colleagues etc.)
- Design & Refine Prototypes
- Develop paper prototype for winning ideas (paper stencils)
- Test paper prototypes with customers (target segment of customers if possible)*
- Iterate prototypes based on customer feedback*
- Develop digital prototypes with no coding using software such as Sketch alongside Flinto or InVision App
- Test digital prototypes with customers (targeted segment of customers if possible)*
- Iterate prototypes based on customer feedback*
- Business Case / Picth Development
- Make Go/ No-Go decision on developing Business Case or Pitch, defining key metrics, revenue model and go-to-market plan
- Once Business Case is approved/ Pitch is finalised, launch sandboxed pilot (controlled environment with a sample of actual customers)
Next Phase
Make refinements based on feedback and launch MVP or fail fast and cheaply and end project sharing lessons learned
*Indicates where numerous cycles can be held during rapid prototyping with customers
Recently I have been working with two budding entrepreneurs on going from the moment an idea is born through to rapid prototyping with actual customers and developing digital prototypes. The steps above proved valuable for them and were easy to follow…..hopefully they prove useful for you too!
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