Prototype is a Means to an End

Some product companies boast about how they conduct thousands of experiments a year to keep iterating on their product lines.

That sounds amazing, but not every team (especially lean/small) has the luxury of resources, budget and time to conduct experiments at that scale.

How can product managers keep testing ideas in such a situation?

Prototyping.

Build high-fidelity models that "look" finished & functional. Then, demonstrate them to customers & capture feedback.

A few tips:

1. It's natural to get emotionally invested with a prototyped idea. Don't be disheartened if some of your theories fail to impress. I've made several that flopped hard. That's the whole point of testing.

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2. When building models for marketing pages, I would create multiple options for each block & slide them in/out to help stakeholders compare in real-time. Fetches amazing feedback.

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3. Use low fidelity when working internally & high fidelity when interacting with customers.

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4. Always label & name each prototype version to document & reference learnings.

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5. Remember: The prototype is a means to an end. It just needs to be good enough to look clear and believable. Don't waste time on configuring components that won't add much value to the hypothesis you're testing.

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