Prototypes, Early Validations and Streamlining the Design Process
In 2020 I wrote an article under the title “Sketching and Quick Ideation in Design Processes”, which aimed to draw focus on the powerful narrative that is created when teams utilize Sketching exercises, to rapidly devise visible and potential solutions for users to respond to. This article and reflection is a continuation of that article, and focuses specifically on the immense power underlying prototypes, which of course have different levels of refinement, and how they can inform the direction in which solutions can go, and pierce through the longing and needs of users.
Prototypes, Early Validations, Lean Processes. The Interaction Design Foundation defines Lean UX as “The core objective is to focus on obtaining feedback as early as possible so that it can be used to make quick decisions. The nature of Agile development is to work in rapid, iterative cycles and Lean UX mimics these cycles to ensure that data generated can be used in each iteration” (there’s more to read on this topic here).
In the past 11 years where I’ve been focused more intently on Application work, I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked in both Lean processes and also the more typical Product Design process, both of which have their virtuosities and challenges. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to be focusing on Lean processes, and how Prototyping in these types of engagements have a profound effect in shaping the narrative and direction of product journeys. Firstly, and even before getting to the operational aspect of the process itself, it’s fundamental that team members understand what a Lean experience is composed of, what it entails, the timelines and ultimately outputs that are produced. Designers should always devise the strategy for the process, including a detailed scheduling of what the process will have, and how that process then manifests itself in terms of Research, Workshops/Ideation sessions, Usability Sessions, Refinements & Iterations, and what the final outputs are going to be. Establishing all these clearly understandable phases, allows for the team members to gain knowledge of what lies ahead, and also allows for Product and Development peers to have a better understanding of timelines, for when their more specific narrative threads need to be integrated.
When it comes to the process itself, I’ll start by pointing out that I’ve been adopting the FAST UX process for quite some time, with that acronym standing for Focus/Attendance/Summarization/Translation. This method allows for Research integration to be facilitated early on (and by Research documentation and synthesis I mean, Metrics, Customer Support Feedback, Market Analysis, Reviews and Ratings, Usability Studies), while also empowering team members and stakeholders to attend Incubation sessions, some of whom inhabit the role of proxies for users/clients, and all succinctly understanding the problem that is being tackled. As this process moves forward, the goal is to quickly formulate possible solution paths, and as I discussed in the article on “Sketching…”, the goal is to have a manifestation of a feature or product that users/clients can interact with and respond to fairly rapidly. And that is where early Prototyping is so important. I’ve discussed in the past and with different teams & team members, how to best consume the outcomes of collaborative sessions, and typically and for the most part, prototypes, in sketch mode, or in functional mode or in fully rendered visual design mode, are always preferred. These prototypes allow for teams, stakeholders, clients, testers, to interact more closely with the elements on the screens and better understand the flow of the application itself, or clearly identify gaps where they exist. The goal for this particular exercise is to capture the essence of the solution in a way that it succinctly encapsulates it, showcasing just enough interactions without having to thoroughly represent certain behaviors or animations. Building prototypes, as soon as possible, and typically with sketches, allows for all sorts of personas to interact with that instrument and focus on the story being told, and not on how it’s being told. This last element also ties with the Aesthetic Usability Effect, in the sense that prototypes which have a more refined visual style, typically remove focus from the functional aspect of it, which is fundamentally what is being investigated, particularly this early on in the process. This stepping stone gains immense relevance when a new product or feature is being nurtured, in the sense that it provides validation, clarification, while also boosting time saving, diminishing costs and efforts.
Early Validation Lessons. As I’ve mentioned in many articles, both Research and Testing are fundamental pillars to any Design Process. Early Validation however is a tactic which can and does produce outcomes that are of tremendous importance and impact. Just as example, I was recently involved in a Design Process concerning an enterprise level piece of software, which had some deviation of the typical path that I like to embrace in the Design process. Nonetheless, and independently of the shape that early validation took, when users consumed the prototype that had been done, they provided visceral and vocal response which forced the team to re-evaluate the considerations that had been done, and the interpretation of the research that had also been canvased. In order to still meet deadlines, new sketches were produced, alongside new Prototypes, which were again quickly tested with Internal Stakeholders, Clients/Users, all with the intent to surface the iteration but also the new direction the solution was embracing. This time around, the surveys, the interviews, all collected in this repository both qualitative and quantitative, allowed for refinements to be delivered promptly, and clarified the direction in which the solution needed to go. This inflection was a direct result of Early validation, which in this case, should have been done even sooner, since the proposition that was being done, should have been tested immediately. Independently of the timing, this example serves to prove the point that ultimately, the sooner concepts are prototyped and tested, the more substantial the feedback captured actually becomes, and the more impact it can have on the solutions themselves.
Reality check. Leaving internal teams, clients, users, out of a Design process is a recipe for disaster. The process is a convergence of efforts, but also of points of view, some of which can at times be dramatically different. However, Prototypes, Early validation, are instruments which empower the narratives being told, to be showcased early on enough where corrections and adjustments can still be made.
The biggest and costliest scenario is one where a product or feature comes out, and not only does it not serve the needs of clients and users, but also undermines and ultimately produces no added value to their routines. The Design Process can only be a successful one if it’s permeated with transparency. That success also implies testing solutions thoroughly from early on stages, all the way through different refinements. This may seem cumbersome and time consuming, however if done properly and strategically, it can be accomplished swiftly and with lower costs. As the process eventually delves into Development phases, no matter how Agile those teams are, the costlier it becomes to uncover issues which should have been tested and identified earlier.
I’ll conclude this article with a quote on the topic of testing and quality from Aristotle:
“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”
