Prototyping

Overview

A prototype is the cheapest way to test whether an idea is worth building. We build prototypes that prove the concept — or kill it — before serious money is committed to a full implementation.

The point of a prototype is not to look impressive. The point is to answer a specific question quickly, with the smallest possible investment.

When to Prototype

Prototyping pays off in a handful of specific situations:

When stakeholders cannot agree on the requirements — a working artefact moves the conversation from abstract opinion to concrete reaction.
When a new technology is being adopted — a small build surfaces the awkward edges that the vendor's slide deck did not mention.
When an unfamiliar problem domain is being entered — the act of building something forces the team to confront the parts they do not yet understand.
When an investment decision is pending — a prototype de-risks a large commitment with a small one.

Types of Prototype

Different questions call for different prototypes. We typically build one of:

Clickable mockups (Figma) — for testing user-experience flows and getting stakeholder feedback on layout and journey, without writing any code.
Interactive HTML prototypes — one step beyond clickable, useful when the interaction model itself needs to be validated.
Functional spike implementations — small builds against the real technology stack, to confirm that a chosen approach is feasible.
Throwaway proof-of-concepts on real data — the most expensive prototype, but the most convincing — for confirming that an idea works against the actual messy data the production system will face.

Output

Every prototype engagement ends with two things:

A working artefact you can show to stakeholders, demo to a board, or hand to a usability tester.
A clear written recommendation: proceed, redesign, or stop — and if proceed, what to build next and what to discard.

Our Approach

Prototypes are deliberately disposable. We build the cheapest thing that proves or disproves the point — then we throw it away and build the real thing properly. Trying to "evolve" a prototype into the production system is one of the more reliable ways to ship a fragile product.

We are honest about which mode we are in. A prototype is not a beta. We do not pretend otherwise to inflate a deliverable.