prototyping-pretotyping_skill

Overview

This skill helps teams validate ideas cheaply and quickly before committing engineering time or budget. It guides selection between pretotyping (fake doors, concierge, Wizard of Oz), low-fidelity prototypes (paper, clickable) and higher-fidelity coded prototypes or MVPs. The goal is to answer the riskiest assumptions about demand, pricing, workflow, and feasibility with minimal cost and time.

How this skill works

Identify the single riskiest assumption, pick the lowest-fidelity test that will answer it, and design an experiment with clear success criteria. Run the test to collect behavioral metrics (clicks, sign-ups, conversions) plus targeted qualitative feedback, then analyze results to pivot, persevere, or iterate. Match fidelity to question: use pretotypes for demand/pricing, paper or clickable prototypes for workflow, and coded spikes for technical feasibility.

When to use it

• When there is high uncertainty about customer demand or willingness to pay
• Before building a feature or product to avoid wasted development effort
• When prioritizing multiple ideas with limited resources
• To validate a proposed workflow or UX before coding
• To test pricing or value proposition before committing to a go-to-market plan
• When evaluating a technical approach or new integration for feasibility

Best practices

• Test the riskiest assumption first and write it down (probability × impact)
• Set quantitative success criteria before running any experiment to avoid confirmation bias
• Match prototype fidelity to the question—don’t overbuild to answer a simple demand question
• Recruit real target users; avoid testing only with friends or internal stakeholders
• Prefer observing behavior (clicks, sign-ups, task completion) over stated opinions
• Be transparent and ethical when you’re faking functionality; never take payment for non-delivered products

Example use cases

• Landing page fake-door to measure sign-ups for a proposed subscription feature
• Concierge MVP: manually deliver a service to 10 users to validate pricing and workflow
• Paper prototype user test to validate checkout steps and reduce drop-off before UI work
• Clickable prototype A/B test of messaging and flow with target users to find the best value proposition
• Coded spike to validate search performance and integration cost before building full product