Prototyping makes perfect

Prototyping is essential to any business. So many people try to just go 0-100 immediately and assume everything will turn out perfectly, but often this is not the case. Something is bund to go wrong, or something won’t be perfect the first time around, so if you don’t take time to prototype and test your product or service on a small scale and then improve upon it when people make critiques, you will fail.

The definition of prototyping as we heard in class is “the intentional use of resources to answer outstanding questions about your organization (or product)”. And these outstanding questions may even be ones that you didn’t know existed but you figure out are critical and need to be addressed.

Your goal for prototyping shouldn’t be to be right all the time, but to get an answer, see what can be improved upon, and then work on that.

During class, Prof Sweet talked about how prototyping isn’t even just a system, it is a MINDSET. It is something that can be used as a way of doing business. To go into every transaction, every meeting, etc. and see it as prototyping. Always looking for where you can improve and then go work on it.

Prototyping, whether you may think of it this way or not, is also an expression of stewardship. Through prototyping you are able to see where you are going wrong, pivot, and then be able to move in a new direction where you may be able to multiply your impact. As redemptive entrepreneurs, being stewards and multiplying our impact should be a significant point of emphasis. If we can build a model that allows us to influence people, but has the potential to then influence more people through those that we have already helped, we can continue to spread and multiply the impact of the organization and impact countless more people. And this all goes back to prototyping. Without it, we may not ever have been able to reach as many people as we would’ve with it.