Q: I work for a big corporation and my team is never short of ideas. We research and create presentations, but executing our plans is often difficult. How do I make sure our creativity is not wasted?
A: It seems to me that your team is missing the art of prototyping. People think of prototyping only in terms of architectural models, but it's much more than that. Prototyping is the most useful tool for getting the ball rolling. Otherwise, ideas are just abstract, fragile, fleeting bubbles in our sea of thought. They evaporate quickly unless we make them tangible and offer momentum. Prototyping is about getting your idea into some real physical form as soon as possible without having to invest in new systems or expensive equipment.
Why? Because waiting around to get all the answers or permissions, or the budget to launch properly and formally, is likely to stall a good idea. Not only does prototyping give your idea crucial energy,
the process also turns it into something you can touch and feel, enabling others to "get it" instantly – a much better method than trying to explain your plans in a boring PowerPoint presentation. And, importantly, with a prototype you can test for real what works and what doesn't. You can tweak and improve your product as you go along. It becomes a work in progress.
How do you do it? Prototyping is good old Blue Peter stuff. You can doodle, draw or model. Somehow, make a mock-up of your end product with anything you have at hand. Sir James Dyson mocked up the first Dyson vacuum cleaner with loo rolls. Even services and internal processes can be prototyped by role-playing – testing out the new scenario for real on a small scale. It's basically the "just do it" approach with what you have available – and it's also fun.
Sahar Hashemi is the author of Switched On
