Time and costs: Prototyping at an early stage in the project can improve accuracy, quality and the final specifications, by identifying errors and weaknesses before the more expensive implementation stage. The fact that changes cost exponentially more the later they are detected in a project or during development, the earlier details are agreed and a clear picture of the users requirements can be built, the faster the project can progress with reduced costs. Prototyping introduces a rare opportunity to test the solution and confirm its suitability before theoretical maturity, at a fraction of the production cost.
Communication: Prototyping your latest product or idea is an extremely valuable resourced for community business requirements to your specified engineers, developers or architects. It goes above and beyond any brief and helps to deliver your vision in a way that will help and inspire your project co-workers. If finance or company support is required for your project to go-ahead, a prototype is frequently used to engage both internal and external stakeholders.
Risks of prototyping
Performance: With larger-scale projects, where lots of stakeholders are involved, users and managers can develop an unrealistic interpretation of the prototype or model and its intended use. This is seen mostly in the expectation that a prototype would accurately model the performance of the final system. Users can also become attached to certain features within the prototype that may be removed from the final deliverable due to cost and the chosen method of production.
Analysis: The completion and execution of the prototype does not necessarily mirror the anticipated success of your project. It's important not to put all your project 'eggs' into your prototyping 'basket'. Making development teams analyse the project as a whole. Continually seek better solutions and adaptations. There might be limitations to the functionality of your prototype. To overcome this, team's need to visualise the final deliverable and ensure any modifications are scalable.
