playbook
welcome to
PROTOTYPE
THINKING
find the right design
create a magic moment
test what matters
Prototype Thinking is a process + toolkit for taking a product, service, process, or other solution:
→ from early conception
→ to having a clearly designed right-answer solution
→ using our optimized, tactical user testing tools
→ that anyone can learn without additional skill or expertise
Every project is filled with big, existential uncertainties:
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Do people even want this?
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We have a broad idea, but it could go 17 different ways; which direction is the right one?
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What is the heart of the solution that users will love and come back to again and again?
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We have a vision for the final ecosystem, but what’s the right first step?
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What does the solution literally look like?
The Prototype Thinking process is your systematic, data-driven, user-centric toolkit to answer these questions quickly and reliably -- before investing down the wrong path.
how it works
THE TOOLKIT
We build with you, not for you! Afterwards, anyone on your team can do it themselves without us.
Prototype Thinking specializes in the tactical nitty-gritty of early stage testing & iteration.
It can be done on its own, or as a complement to an existing design / agile / innovation process.
User Recruitment & Testing Planning
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How to get any user to test with you
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Which users, how many, how friendly, etc
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Enterprise/saas - sales-friendly user testing
Confidence
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Identify your biggest existential questions
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Solve the most load-bearing risks first
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Create an experiment roadmap
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Bring stakeholders to your side of the table and add their perspective to the experiment roadmap
Experiment Playbook
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Step by step experiment builder
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Test a dozen ideas at the same time
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Build what matters, ignore the rest
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Directly target the most important vulnerabilities
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Turn your questions user-side-out for accurate results
Dynamic User Testing
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Behavioral results, not just verbal opinion
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Dozens of dynamic, real-time changes in collaboration with the user
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How to receive and recognize accurate vs unreliable insights & feedback
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Leading indicator signals to look for
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User instruction scripts
Synthesis & Pivot
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How to pivot
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Understanding aggregated user feedback
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Turning insights into prioritized action
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Identifying key strategic decisions
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Redesign & additional experiment strategy
The most exciting cycle is actually the second one, because we can ideate from data!
watch
EXAMPLE USER TEST
why it works
THE PROCESS
1) increase confidence, decrease risk
In order to inevitably reach the right answer every time, we need to:
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thoroughly build understanding of the solution space
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map all options
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systematically eliminate risk
*Timeline note: Most teams prefer to do Prototype Thinking part time, concurrent with other responsibilities. A typical part-time sprint will take 1-2 months (consumer) or 2-3 months (enterprise), where timeline is mostly dictated by scheduling.
2) test all ideas and 5x more variables by using a fraction of the effort
The real purpose of experimenting is not to fail fast, but to pivot fast.
When we optimize tests for pivoting, we can cut 95% of the effort by building an optimal experiment that tests only the most load-bearing risk first.
example loadbearing risk: will people want to drive a car?
3) find the magic moment
Solutions impactful enough to truly create behavior change will show up as at least a 3-point improvement on our Impact Value Scale. (Fun fact: 1 or 2 points better is nice but is simply not good enough to overcome habit and drive adoption.)
This “magic moment” will show up in user behavioral signals during a test. Once we find it, the magic moment becomes the heart of the deisgn.
4a) cross the pre-tangible stage...
Every project has phase called the Pre-Tangible Stage. It occurs between the idea and the execution, and can sometimes trap a project team for years.
When a team is struggling in this stage, it looks like this:
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there too many possibilities and not sure which one to pick
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the situation is complex and interdependent, so it’s hard to make a commitment
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it seems like there are tons of potential things to do, but none of them come next
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discussions & debates go in circles over weeks
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you feel stuck and busy at the same time: you keep designing and designing but never seem done
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you feel like you’re still waiting to understand how to do a good job
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the search for product/market fit seems to drag on forever
4b) ... by trying to get only 15% more confident through rapid testing
On a scale of 0% to 100%, how confident are you that your current best guess is the right answer? (10%? 30%? 80%?)
No matter how hard we work or how well we plan, it is only possible to improve Confidence by 10–20% at a time. By quickly coming back to users over and over, we can reach high confidence much more easily in bite-sized increments.
5) 80% of work should be fun and meaningful
In the presence of lots of unknowns and risk, the void of confident, data-informed design gets filled by stakeholder management.
The ultra-early testing data we get means:
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we bring user-driven data into every conversation
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teams use most of their time on creative work and listening, not reporting
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meetings propel productivity forward
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discussion is for pivotal strategic choices, not hypothetical directions
80% of prototype thinking work is active workshops, meaningful choices, or direct execution. Tedium is just a signal that we are solving the wrong problem.
