3 Considerations for Prototyping a Product or Service
Last week I applied for a job, and they asked “What are the 3 key considerations when prototyping a product or service?” What a great question!
I thought I’d share my answer in short:
- Define what success looks like
- Prototype early
- Create products and services that people can use for real.
What does a successful prototype look like?
Identify the success criteria for the prototype before beginning to test. When creating a new mental health programme with Mind (the mental health charity) we developed a bespoke outcome measurement form. Each young person completed the form on mental health literacy before engaging with the programme, so that we could compare results. Even better is having baseline data already, as you know it’s not skewed towards the results you want. When improving hospital handover processes I looked at the existing nursing debriefing survey. On a Likert scale, nurses had scored handover 1.5 out of 5. When that score improved, we knew our new process worked.
Are we prototyping early enough?
When facilitating a hack or a jam I prompt people to mock-up a usable prototype quickly, and get users to try it out as soon as possible. Testing a prototype early means minimising risk through making mistakes early, which provides an opportunity to iterate. On a larger scale, testing early means we can identify whether the new product or service is needed, and save budget long term by developing solutions that have a positive impact.
Are the prototypes usable?
Users should be able to interact with the product or service as if it is the real thing. I developed Ray, an energy saving chatbot for Islington Council. I built the first prototype to be used on Facebook. When I shared Ray, I simply let people know it could help them save energy. Observing whether people used the energy saving chatbot was more indicative of real behaviour than presenting a mock-up for feedback.
