Chapter 12. The role of prototypes
On a list of, say, five things would-be-innovators should do, working at creating a full-blown culture of rapid prototyping surely merits inclusion.
During the development of the Lotus Elise the team made extensive use of different types of prototypes, from very simple ones made of cardboard, to highly sophisticated computer-generated ones. Extensive experimentation and the use of prototypes are firmly at the heart of innovative organisations, and it is not only restricted to tangible products. While it can be a bit more difficult to apply the concepts of experimentation and prototypes to processes and services, once understood and internalised they can prove invaluable in keeping an organisation agile.
In this chapter we investigate what makes experimentation and prototypes so invaluable to innovation, provide a brief overview of different categories of prototypes, and conclude with Michael Schrage's (2000) insight that innovative teams do not create innovative prototypes but in fact, innovative prototypes create innovative teams.
WHY USE PROTOTYPES?
By now prototypes in their various forms and guises are acknowledged to be one of the key tools for successful innovation. And Michael Schrage (1993), research associate at the MIT Media Lab and a Merrill Lynch Forum Innovation Fellow, declares, "Companies that want to build better products must learn how to build better prototypes." Companies renowned for their innovativeness, ...
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