Pretotyping vs. Prototyping: should we build it vs. can we build it
When discussing the concept of pretotyping with someone new, we always get asked: "Wait . . don't you mean 'prototyping'?"
This can be confusing, so we'd like to clarify it.
To start, let us give you some definitions:
Prototype: A first or preliminary version of a device, product or service from which other forms are developed.
“...the first, original, or typical form of something; an archetype”
Pretotype: A rapid experiment that aims to test ideas quickly, simply, and at low cost, gathering data to validate ideas before building a prototype.
They are often run in a series, building on what was learned from each previous pretotype experiment to test each element of the proposed product.
The Key Difference
A prototype asks the question: CAN we build it? The answer is yes, it's the 21st century. We can build anything!
A pretotype asks: SHOULD we build it? Let’s dive in.
Learn why Pretotyping is the fastest way to get data over opinion without building expensive MVP's first. I explain the difference between Pretotyping and Prototyping.
The Prototype
A prototype is the first version of a product from which copies and following editions are made. The main objective of prototyping is to answer questions that arise around the building of a product. These include questions like:
Can we build it?
Will it work functionally?
How much will it cost to build it?
How much time will it take?
Whilst prototypes are an important and necessary step in the product development process, they’re often created without any validated data to show whether or not anyone will even want the product once it has been built. They’re also often created based on Other People’s Data (OPD), which we believe should be avoided at all costs.
OPD vs YODA
This is because what works for others may not work for you. You should only trust Your Own Data, or YODA as Alberto likes to call it. Get data that relates directly to your product and customers and is collected by you. This also gives you specific insight about your customers based on precisely what you are trying to test.
To fill the gap created by jumping straight to a prototype and to answer the question of whether anyone will actually use it, pretotyping should be used before the prototype is created. While it might seem counterintuitive to pause the process and take valuable time to run rapid experiments at the start, we promise it’ll save you time, money and resources in the long run.
The Pretotype
Unlike a prototype, a pretotype isn’t a thing as it is a mini-experiment designed to test an idea quickly, simply and at a very low cost. Pretotyping asks you to break your idea down to its smallest possible testable form and run an experiment to measure if anyone will use the product. You can then use these learnings to run additional pretotypes until you have enough of Your Own (validated) DatA to prove it is worth building.
Where prototyping focuses on questions relating to the construction of a product, pretotyping focuses on its appeal and usage, asking questions like:
Will people be interested in it?
Will they use it the way we expect?
Will it solve their problem?
Will they use it more than once?
One of the most famous examples of pretotyping is that of the Palm Pilot. When he had the idea for this product, the founder of Palm Computing, Jeff Hawkins, didn’t rush to build the device. He ran pretotypes to make sure that a) the product would work functionally and b) that people would want to buy and use them. He did this by mocking up a Palm Pilot using pieces of wood and paper, carrying it around for a few weeks and “using” it to see if it was valuable and to test other people’s interest in it.
Whilst he didn’t know it at the time (because Alberto Savoia hadn’t invented the name “Pretotyping” yet), Hawkins was demonstrating a perfect example of a pretotype - an experiment using the smallest possible investment of time and money to see if the product would actually work.
Pretotype + Prototype = 🏆
Pretotyping and prototyping are best placed when used together, one after the other. When you have an idea, pretotyping can be used to test each element of the proposed product, creating your own collectable data and letting you know if it’s even worth building in the first place. The process also allows you to test many different elements of the potential product; this means you will emerge with the best possible plan and considerable data that could be useful when creating the prototype.
Once the pretotypes have all been run, the data collected and analysed and the evidence-based decision made, then it’s time to build the prototype, which will be all the better for the time taken to pretotype it in the first place.
Dive deeper on the Resources page
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