Learning with cities: prototyping and testing with communities
Very rarely do designers and innovators arrive at their most dynamic ideas in their first attempt. Instead, they create, test, and iterate until they arrive at a final product that successfully meets their users’ needs. Similarly, in the government innovation space, it is quite unlikely that city leaders are able to comprehensively solve the very complex and sticky problems that persist in their communities in their first attempts. This is where prototyping and testing can be useful tools to ensure city leaders are extending their support and resources only to ideas that are proven to drive impact.
- Prototypes are physical models built to represent an idea, program, or policy — this can be as simple as a sketch on a piece of paper or as complex as a highly detailed mockup or simulation of the real-world version. Prototypes help us gain feedback early, derisk ideas through intelligent failure, and co-design ideas in partnership with communities impacted most.
- Testing refers to the process by which we gather real-time feedback based on our prototypes. This design strategy is effective because it allows us to gather feedback on our assumptions about what people may find most valuable and useful ahead of fully implementing ideas. Testing can happen at various stages of the design process, whether it occurs earlier with a low-fidelity prototype, such as a sketch or wireframe, or later on in the process with a high-fidelity prototype that is interactive and much more comprehensive.
While there are a myriad of useful and effective best practices in prototyping and testing, we’ve observed several key lessons that we recommend cities consider adding to their toolbox as they prototype and test.
- Invest in cross-sectoral collaboration
- Maintain a growth mindset
- Partner with residents for input earlier rather than later
‘Click here to read the full article’ hyperlinked to the article on the CPI website
Originally published at https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org.
