(W7) Rapid Prototyping: When to apply?

     As a product manager, I tend to be an advocate of rapid prototyping for designing and developing networked knowledge activities. Agile project management or design thinking process is typical of software product development process. Iteration is one characteristic of these processes, which underscores the creation of prototype preceding a final product and its continuous revision based on collected insights and feedbacks of users. Rapid prototyping is similar. Though this iterative process is gaining popularity nowadays with striking advantages against the traditional linear process, it is important to note under which conditions the process can be conducted.

     From my perspective, there are several questions to ask when considering the rapid prototyping approach. 

1. Is it feasible to collect learners' feedback regularly?

2. Is the team's culture, structure, resource and capabilities supportive of an iterative approach?

3. To which extent can the prototype illustrate the final product?

    By answering these fundamental questions, designers can evaluate if the conditions are pertinent for adopting the rapid prototyping process. Otherwise, they need to create certain conditions or overcome challenges posed by the missing condition. 

Comments

  1. Wile E. CoyoteJune 30, 2024 at 10:44 AM

    Thank you for sharing. I would like to see more examples of rapid prototyping in the ID field. While I have read about it, I feel like I am missing tangible, practical examples of it in practice.

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  2. KeniaJune 30, 2024 at 5:25 PM

    Rapid prototyping is something that I am still trying to understand as it involves refining prototypes. These questions you have provided are helpful and will serve as some guidelines as to whether this method is a good approach for certain projects. I wonder how people use this method if certain conditions are missing. Does this mean they have to restructure their approach, or is this method just not applicable?

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