I recently found this gem from prototypethinking.io and really like the simple process for solving complex problems. You can apply prototype thinking to almost any problem you’re working on, especially if you’re going into uncharted territory.
Prototype thinking is about doing quick experiments to test your idea. — think 30 minutes, not days or weeks.
Phases of prototype thinking
- Ideate – generate new ideas based on previous insights
- Concretize – Situate the idea in time and space
- Prototype – build a fast and concrete example
- User test – Get authentic, real-time responses from real users
- Understand – Synthesize observations and strategize the next steps
What’s next
I’m a big fan of making small, incremental changes to improve a process over time, so this totally falls in line with my thinking. In fact, I’ve been doing something similar already but didn’t have a name for it and now I do.