Coaching practices for How to Test a Prototype

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Test a Prototype, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I showed it to people and everyone said they liked it, but somehow that told me nothing
• The idea lives perfectly in my head so I keep refining it there and trusting it more and more, but it’s never once touched reality
• I’ve got this fresh idea I’m genuinely excited about, and that excitement is making me go easy on it
• There’s this other life I daydream about constantly, but it stays a fantasy in my head
• I size up a new idea against some image in my head of what its kind looks like and spit out a verdict

Practices that may help

1. Test — let users break it
   Put the prototype in front of real users and treat their confusion as data.
   Design Thinking, Step by Step
2. Prototype — make it cheap and real
   Build the roughest possible version that lets you learn something specific.
   Design Thinking, Step by Step
3. Rebuild from fundamentals and stress-test it
   Reassemble a solution from verified parts, then attack it to find where it breaks.
   First-Principles Thinking, Made Usable
4. Prototype with conversations and experiences
   Test a possible path cheaply — talk to someone living it, or try a small slice — before betting on it.
   Designing Your Life, Made Practical
5. Name the prototype you’re comparing against before deciding
   Make the prototype you’re using as a reference explicit — hidden templates bias decisions without scrutiny.
   The Representativeness Heuristic — Judging by Resemblance
6. Iterate — treat the stages as a loop, not a line
   Cycle back to earlier stages as testing reveals you framed the wrong problem.
   Design Thinking, Step by Step
7. Prototype to think, not to finish
   Build or sketch something rough specifically to learn what you actually want.
   Quantity Over Quality: How More Drafts Produce Better Work
8. Run a small experiment before committing to Plan B or C
   Design the smallest possible real-world experience that would tell you something true about a plan before you commit to it.
   Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures
9. Run the smallest test that can answer the question
   Shrink your experiment so the feedback cycle is fast and the cost of being wrong is low.
   Plan–Do–Study–Act: Deming’s Loop for Personal Improvement
10. Make the third alternative tangible with a prototype or model
    Turn an abstract third-alternative idea into something both parties can react to together.
    The Third Alternative, Made Practical

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