Prototyping for Pros — How to Rapidly Prototype for Software Development

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Attrecto team

Prototyping for Pros — How to Rapidly Prototype for Software Development

You usually don’t have to preach the perks of prototyping to designers — they’re in the know. It’s their process, their everyday expectation:

Have project, will prototype, goes their mantra.

But what about software development? 

According to CapGemini, prototyping for software can bring on 4 distinct advantages for teams looking for:

  • Clarity: using “throw-away prototyping” to get requirements right
  • Iterative thinking: using “evolutionary prototyping” to think and build in an iterative and progressive manner
  • Getting the customer involved early on: using “customer value prototyping” to focus on and discover a customer’s needs or expectations of the software solution
  • Concept visualization: using “rapid design and visualization” to communicate and visualize the projects to clients/stakeholders 

Why does this matter? For an app development company looking to stay competitive, there’s a distinct advantage to adopting a user-centric point of view.

Because so many app development teams and companies already operate according to agile methodology, often working in a scrum environment, prototyping can support the need for an ongoing form of customer and user feedback in development.  

Source: The State of Software Development 2018

So what does software prototyping look like? And what does a web development company stand to gain when harnessing rapid prototyping? 

Let’s take a look.

What is a Prototype?

Prototypes are…

“an initial or preliminary version from which other forms are developed. This provides you with insight into the functionality of your design and any changes needed in order to make your work a pleasure to use.” — Daniel Bramhall, “The importance of prototyping your designs

Prototypes can be as simple as sketches, drawings, and drafts, or more physical and complex like models, sculptures, and replicas. 

The idea behind a prototype is two-fold: 

  • To provide a simulation or a sample version that can also act as a convenient starting point
  • To use the incoming observed and measured data to test out the product from this sample and gain new ideas on what’s working and what needs to be improved upon

The whole point of a prototype, then, is to both plan for and precipitate change. 

Software development, as a discipline and as an activity, knows all about change. And this makes prototyping especially useful in the beginning stages of information gathering, requirements, and estimations. 

Source: Unsplash

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Prototyping is essential and inevitable

Here, we’re talking about prototyping the code that runs the show and/or the features that will be included.

Within software development, prototyping holds very concrete and distinct advantages. 

  • It can help resolve issues of usability by connecting the user to the software at an earlier stage in agile or iterative development
  • Building out a prototype before can reveal areas that need improvement or features that must be thought through more carefully
  • Real users can interact and use the final version, allowing developers to track whether there is enough simplicity and ease or if the code is too buggy, clunky or inefficient
  • In the beginning, a “rough” or “lo-fi” prototype can help elicit requirement as well as validate requirements your team might have forecasted
  • Prototyped programs can help transmit intent not just for the user but to the development and design team; moving from concept to visual model engages a different level of understanding and creativity
  • It can be seen as an essential risk reduction activity, especially in cases of the accuracy of estimations and the anticipation of the scope change requests down the road

Source: “Prototyping in a scrum environment“, CapGemini, Slideshare

Keep in mind that, besides the types of prototypes you can create, based on stages of development, there are also various modes of detail. 

“Lo-fi” prototypes are much less detailed, high-level, conceptual and simplistic. As a result, these designs are:

  • not entirely definite
  • used when the focus is on scenarios of use and user flows
  • intended to clarify the thinking process without too much clutter

Compare this with “hi-fi” prototypes, which are much more detailed and closer to the end model/concept, as well as:

  • used when you need to convince stakeholders who are looking for an investment from a VC, for example
  • used when the designs are nearly done
  • chosen if you’re only iterating or adjusting for functionality/features

4 ways prototyping helps you go pro

Prototyping, especially within the context of agile methodologies, is a stage by stage process. As we saw previously with the Cone of Uncertainty, the phases of a software project’s evolution, especially in the beginning planning stages, can be shrunk significantly. In lieu of this “quick” and “lean” start, development is spread out throughout the course of its growth, from the first conception to “final” iteration. 

Prototyping is highly conducive to this “iterative” nature as prototypes can be improved upon. Some formats of prototyping, such as wireframes, as we’ll soon see, are more flexible and relevant to the process of prototyping. 

It also helps hammer out four key elements of production and development, including:

  • Interaction: How does the user interact with the software? Take note of any expectations that were not met or, better still, completely disrupted. Was there enough guidance? Were the functions too difficult to discern?
  • Identifying the kind of prototyping required: Does the project call for “throwaway prototyping” (aka “rapid prototyping”), or will it be more successful with evolutionary prototyping wherein a robust prototype is built in a very structured manner and then consistently refined from there
  • Look and feel: Depending on which technique you’re using and whether you’re casting a lo-fi or hi-fi prototype, you can gain an insight into what that user experience should look like and feel like, using code; this is usually the moment designers and developers must work together
  • Potential problem spots: After getting the user involved and observing them interacting with the software, prototyping can help highlight major issues on interaction, glitches, and unexpected bugs

Source: “Prototyping in a scrum environment“, CapGemini, Slideshare

You can clearly see, by now, that prototyping and agile methodology is a very complementary and intersectional process. It can even allow you an iteration on every possible version of your design or feature.

The whole point of prototyping is to afford you, the developer, key insights that might have stayed hidden until the “final” version, causing major failures and skyrocketing costs to try and “fix” once a project has gone live.

Source: Unsplash

 

Traditionally, there are various methods of prototyping, for both software and design. As we’ve seen above, some forms of prototyping are more conducive to a particular “stage” in the development process. 

But there are various tools and methods you can use to prototype for apps and software. 

So let’s focus on the trifecta of paper, digital and wireframe prototyping, taking a look at the advantages and disadvantages of all three. 

Paper Prototyping

Perfect for “rapid” or “throwaway” prototyping, paper prototypes are perfect for brainstorm sessions, working well during the early stages. Paper is easily accessible and ideas can simply be placed on a page. Paper prototypes are also quite “lo-fi” — though there is an app out there known as “POP” that turns sketches into interactive iOS and Android prototypes. 

Source: Prototyping On Paper

Simple screens are drawn on paper and configured to mimic a digital interaction, switching the sketches according to user behavior

Advantages

  • It’s fast to get ideas down
  • It’s inexpensive, which is beneficial during the initial planning stages
  • These lo-fi sketches can be used later on as the basis for documentation

Source: Unsplash

Disadvantages

  • At this stage of ideating, you could be gaining false positives, there’s a risk of confirmation bias where your ideas essentially remain untested.
  • Not realistic (yet).
  • Because your paper prototype has no connection with its users, it cannot forecast user flows, it’s not interactive and so there is no sense of anticipating reactions — how do screen transitions work? What is the functionality behind each static drawing? Reactions are missing and this is crucial, especially when approaching development from a user-centric point.

At the end of the day, paper prototyping is only useful for the early stages, when most of a project is still abstract. The further you get into the design process, the bigger the gap between paper prototypes and the final product.

Digital Prototyping

Digital prototypes are the most common form of prototyping and are realistic enough to accurately test most interface elements.

Digital prototypes can be built using apps and software made specifically for prototyping. You can even make simple digital prototypes using presentation software like Powerpoint or Keynote.

Advantages

  • Can incorporate realistic interactions and animated transitions
  • Are extremely flexible: it’s easy to edit, enlarge, refine and share
  • Speed: Paper prototypes have the edge on getting the idea down but digital prototypes with a computerized interface can do more, faster — they can be transferred, marked up and widely shared and distributed

And while speed varies from app to app, most have user-friendly interfaces and features like interactive elements or drag-and-drop.

Source: Unsplash

Disadvantages

  • There is a learning curve: Before you can build your prototype, you’ll need to learn the software. According to the survey results showcased below in the State of Software Development graph, 17.58% of developers say the most limiting factors of new tools are the amount of time it takes to learn it.
  • Transitioning to code: Depending on the software, translating your designs into code can be a hit or miss and incompatible elements might get lost in the transition. At some point, you’ll have to address these and code these from scratch.

Source: The State of Software Development 2018

Wireframes for prototypes

Wireframing software is a kind of digital software or app also made specifically to outline the elements of a new development project. It can be as “hi-fi” or “lo-fi” as you’d like. However, wireframing gives designers and developers the greatest amount of flexibility. 

Using wireframing, you can employ evolutionary prototyping, which is all about building a solid blueprint up front and then constantly refining as the project brings in more user data. 

Wireframes are a graphic structure of a website or app. However, they also include details on transitions, buttons, animation, user flows, features, screens and more. Wireframes can incorporate multiple situations of usage and so they’re perfect for A/B testing. 

It’s a graphic structure of a website or app containing the content and elements.

Source: Axure

As a kind of layout design and a master blueprint, rather like the plans for a house or a building, wireframes have three broad levels:

  • Contains the main information
  • Draws the outline of structure and layout
  • Incorporates the visuals and descriptions of the user interface

Source: Axure

Experiment now or forever hold your peace — that’s what prototyping is supposed to be all about. Prototyping gives both designers and developers the license to ideate, create, test and refine. 

Lather, rinse, repeat because this is when things are allowed to “go wrong”.

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SCRUM in a nutshell

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Attrecto Team

SCRUM in a nutshell

The “manifesto” for agile software development starts with a curious sentiment: 

“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools” 

It’s not that there isn’t value in the stuff on the right, continues the manifesto. It’s that the stuff on the left is even more valuable. 

Scrum, agile and sprints are more than just development buzzwords — they’re ways of working and approaching complex problems that put values like communication, knowledge-sharing, embracing failure, introspection and observation front and center. 

Besides the fact that working with Scrum has brought our software projects major results, there is also something very human about the methodology. 

So instead of having you wade through a number of complex and jargon-heavy white papers, we thought we’d give you the TL;DR version that still answers questions like “What is Agile project management?” and “How can our team begin to use Scrum for software development?”

Source: Unsplash

Scrum in Software

Agile methodology gets a lot of fancy press but there are a number of other similar methodologies, including: 

  • eXtreme Programming
  • Crystal Clear
  • Agile Unified Process 

Scrum’s rise to the top, however, is because of its simplicity, straightforwardness and the ease with which teams, across functions, can implement and collaborate. Often, team members experience perks like: 

  • Feedback gathered from stakeholders, customers and end users throughout the process of development
  • Rapid and aligned reactions to changing requirements
  • The dev team’s increased velocity, thanks to 1-4 week sprints, which provide a sense of urgency and focus
  • Shippable increments delivered early and often, enabling stakeholders to provide real-time feedback (and team members to observe customers in action)
  • Productive, effective, and efficient meetings to help ensure that developers get help when they need it

Scrum is not a process, technique, or definitive method. 

It is a framework that offers freedom of implementation. 

Through organized yet creative “sprints”, Development Teams bring a design thinking and problem-solving mindset to software. User experience is not in the rearview but right in front of you so the team can bring real customer value, which translates to real business value. 

Scrum’s power and potential, then, is all in adopting a user-centered development mindset. This is what can help web development companies create and deliver complex but successful products users can actually benefit from. 

Source: Unsplash

The basic framework consists of Scrum Teams and their associated roles, events, artifacts, and rules, detailed by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, who developed Scrum. 

Yet, there are now quite a few successful “Scrum”mers (like Kai Haley, leader of the design sprint training program at Google) and “Sprint”ers (like Jake Knapp, design partner at Google Ventures) who have perfected the art of running a successful Sprint and the formation and facilitation of a Scrum Team to a tee. 

To get started, you’ll need to have an understanding of its structure and working style. 

The Scrum Team

The Scrum Team is made of a couple of concrete roles, which we’ll look at here. Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional.

The Product Owner: responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Development Team.

The Development Team:team members who work on delivering a potentially releasable Increment of the “Done” product at the end of each Sprint. Development Teams are structured and empowered by the organization to organize and manage their own work.

The SCRUM Master: responsible for promoting and supporting while also connecting with those outside the Scrum Team, helping them to understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t.

Source: Unsplash

Scrum Events

Pre-determined Scrum “events” are a great way to create regularity and minimize the need for meetings. Events have a set time duration they can’t go beyond. 

The Sprint

The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, which usually runs anywhere from 1-4 weeks. The goal is a useable, and potentially releasable product Increment. Sprints have consistent durations throughout a development effort. Don’t be surprised if you’re facing 8-hour days of consistent focus. 

Another principle is that a new Sprint starts immediately after the previous one wraps up. 

Sprints consist of the following activities: 

  • Sprint Planning
  • Daily Scrums
  • the development work 
  • the Sprint Review
  • the Sprint Retrospective

While no changes are made that might take the “Sprint Goal” off-course, the scope can be clarified and re-negotiated with the Product Owner and Development Team as more is learned.

Source: Unsplash

Sprint Planning

There’s no need for your team to do much homework prior to the Sprint. But, the designated Sprint Planning stage is where the team creates a plan for the collaborative work to come. It’s also considered an event so, naturally, it has a time limit: a maximum of eight hours for a one-month Sprint.

Daily Scrum

Every day of the Sprint, there is a 15-minute event called the “Daily Scrum”. There is where the Development Team plans work for the next 24 hours and inspects the work done yesterday. The Daily Scrum is held at the same time and place each day to reduce complexity.

Sprint Review and Retrospective

A Sprint Review is held at the end of the Sprint to inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog if needed. It is informal and lasts, at most, for four hours. 

The Retrospective is a chance for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements for the next Sprint. The atmosphere is open to feedback and sharing because presentation of the Increment is all about getting feedback and fostering collaboration. 

Source: Unsplash

Scrum Artifacts

So Scrum Teams engage in Scrum Events. And Scrum Events inevitably result in Scrum Artifacts. Think of these as the “residue” of activities and events that also give the team opportunities for inspection and adaptation.

  • Product Backlog:an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product. Any requirements for any changes to the product go here. It’s the domain of the Product Owner to advise on/tend to content, availability, and ordering.
  • Sprint Backlog: from the list of “Product Backlog”, the “Sprint Backlog” items are those that are selected for the Sprint; this includes a plan for delivering the product Increment and realizing the Sprint Goal. 

While some software teams decide to cleave design and development into two separate sprints,  others favor an integrated sprint approach that brings together UX designers, developers and testers working together as a scrum team.

The benefit to this integrated environment, especially using Scrum, is that it allows you to constantly maintain a UX mindset and focus. You’re actively testing the product in iterations as you go along, allowing the next increment to thoughtfully reflect improvements from the previous version.

 

Source: Unsplash

Of course, this calls for a well-functioning development team in order to build a powerful and ingenious product.

However, Scrum comes with a caveat: using it is not a guarantee that you’ll end up with a successful product. 

Agile development companies must embrace the idea and reality of “failure” and ask themselves what this term means to them. 

The other consideration is the role of a UX designer within an integrated Scrum team. It’s the UX designer who keeps a finger on the pulse of the project’s alignment with the customer, constantly bringing a clear understanding of product vision and its requirements. 

This UX focus, then, directly translates into a superior customer experience. 

So, at its core, Scrum ultimately provides a better CX for clients and internal teams. Customers are integral to the framework and need to be deeply involved in the development process. 

It’s the interactions with the customer and their observed experience that help to guide each successive iteration stages. It’s direct involvement coupled with ongoing, incremental working that makes the Scrum framework so powerful in software development.

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