The Purpose of Prototypes : Silicon Valley Product Group

As GenAI tools have completely flipped the table on prototyping, and turned it into something that anyone can take a run at (which is all a great thing!) it is important to remember what a prototype is. Many seem to think it is the beta of a product. Some think it is a way to determine the viability of a solution. Nah, it is neither of those things.

The primary purpose of prototyping is to help discover a successful solution.

Going from an idea that could potentially solve a problem, to a prototype of an effective solution is the craft of product. And this involves fleshing out the idea, exploring the consequences and implications, and rapidly iterating on the solution.

There are many other techniques that are helpful in both problem and solution discovery, and eventually it's worth learning more of them, but far and away, the most important discovery technique is prototyping, and then using the prototypes you create to test the risks -- before you proceed to building the actual product.

I re-discovered this when I vibe coded POAP2RSS. The first iteration was completely discarded, and it was completely worth it. It helped me discover a successful solution.