Prototyping is an approach to developing, testing, and improving ideas at an early stage before large-scale resources are committed to implementation. It is a way of project and team working which allows you to experiment, evaluate, learn, refine and adapt. Ensuring that ideas are fully explored before any conclusions are drawn.
Prototyping:
- involves relevant people at an early stage
- develops ideas with the people who will help you find the answers
- makes ideas tangible and tests them
- refines those ideas
- informs and improves any eventual project framework for change
Why would I use a prototyping approach?
- Prototyping allows you to try out your ideas without the pressure of getting everything right straight away.
- Prototyping also enables you to involve a wide range of stakeholders in the testing process, providing a better understanding of how your ideas will work.
- Compared to a pilot, prototyping is a low-cost process and can be done within short to medium timescales.
- Prototyping also provides an iterative learning approach so ideas can develop as you go along.
You should think about prototyping before you start thinking about piloting. Prototyping is not an alternative to piloting. It helps you build a better specification for what a pilot might be. It may even help you see that your idea isn't going to work and save you the time and cost of a pilot.
How do I do it?
The prototyping process outlined in this document was developed through the Prototype Barnet project, which used this process to build and test a proposed new service called Community Coaches.
Depending on what you are prototyping, you may find different stages of this process are more relevant than others, but the diagram provides a framework from which you can structure your own approach.
During the Prototype Barnet project, many of the stakeholders felt the language around prototyping was inaccessible. So we asked some people from the council to share a story of where they had prototyped something in their own life.
"When cooking a new recipe I prototype. I try the recipe on myself first, and make small changes as I go along, adding more flavour here and there, and writing in my recipe book what I would change next time. I'd then try the recipe out again with some friends making the changes I'd learnt the first time, and see how they like it. I would probably just keep making small changes to recipes until I found the perfect combination of flavours. It is rare that you'd get it right first time"
Council employee
"I recently prototyped my journey to work. I moved house and wanted to know the best route in, so I tested out three modes of transport. The first day I got the train, the second day I took the bus, the third day I cycled. I wanted to know which was quicker, cheaper, and which was most enjoyable. Cycling turned out to be the cheapest and the nicest, so I've opted for that, except on Tuesdays when I need to be early, so I use the train... we test things out all the time, without calling it prototyping"
Council employee
