Make It To Make It Better

This post is written by my friend, collaborator, and simply brilliant innovator, Philippe Barreaud. Philippe is the Head of Michelin’s Customer Labs for North America, Europe, and Asia. He’s also been featured in a couple of P&P posts, here and here. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.

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I love prototyping. I like drawing and building things, so prototyping is a joyful moment and my happy place.

You can imagine my surprise that my preferred tool in the design thinking toolbox often derails the creative process.

First, corporate culture significantly prioritizes thinking over doing. 

Second, corporate culture squashes vulnerability. Building something made of craft paper and pieces of string can be an invitation to vulnerability. Most people forget over time how much fun they had as first graders. This is sad, as children are known to be very good at solving problems quickly through trial and error. (see “Test the Marshmallow”)

Last, corporate culture demands perfection. The most lethal objection of all: “There is no way we would show this to a customer.” As in, “This is childish.” What is implied here is that everything we show to a customer has to be either PowerPoint perfect or the real thing. This often translates into a massive effort and a lot of money spent before even talking to the first customer. 

Prototyping is the start of a conversation. The more elaborate the prototype, the less interesting the conversation. An unfinished prototype gives the customer a chance to have a say. This chance to have an impact will be rewarded with valuable feedback. It creates possibilities instead of closing doors on good ideas.

That being said, no matter how rough the prototype looks — and it may surprise you to hear me say this — I try to sell it for money. A price quickly bridges the gap with reality and triggers passion. I will likely get more valuable input if the prototype has a price tag. 

Although it is tempting, avoid brochureware and aim to get the customer to have a direct experience with the prototype. Nothing beats an object in the customer's hands or his/her immersion into a service. 

No matter how brilliant the idea, the chance of nailing it on the head the first time is zero. Prototyping is an iterative exercise. The iteration can lead back to the drawing board or the next level of prototyping fidelity.

To make sure you are learning from each iteration, I recommend formulating your hypotheses as clearly as possible. A simple framework works best. It is important to identify the assumption to be proven right. If I assume that "people in my neighborhood will pay for my goat lawn mowing service,” I will prove it by "pitching a $40/goat/day service to 20 people in my community." I will measure "the number of people who ask me for a quote," and I will consider myself on the right track if "at least 6 people engage.” (Ed: you can replace the underlined portions with your own underlying logic to craft your own experiment.)

Successful prototyping is essentially a matter of speed. The whole idea is to cycle quickly. The sooner you can try the prototype with a customer, the sooner you can start the next loop which will get you closer to your goal.

A rule I follow is that if you are not somewhat ashamed of your prototype, you are doing it wrong. And if you are not involving a customer in every iteration cycle, you are not prototyping. The only way to make it better is to make it. And don’t worry: as soon as you make it, you can make it better.

Related: Get Scientific
Related: Reduce Experimental Fidelity (to Increase Velocity)
Related: Allow Time for Incubation
Related: Test the Marshmallow
Related: Sharing Before You Feel Ready

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