What are the best ways to use prototyping for functional requirements?

1 Why use prototyping?

Prototyping has many benefits for functional requirements elicitation and analysis. First, it helps you to communicate your vision and expectations more clearly and effectively than text or diagrams. Second, it enables you to get early and frequent feedback from users and stakeholders, which can improve the quality and usability of your system. Third, it allows you to experiment with different design alternatives and features, which can enhance your creativity and innovation. Fourth, it reduces the risk of misunderstanding, ambiguity, and rework, which can save you time and money.

2 How to choose a prototyping approach?

There are different types of prototyping approaches that you can use for functional requirements, depending on your goals, resources, and context. The main dimensions that distinguish them are the level of fidelity and the degree of evolution. The level of fidelity refers to how realistic and detailed the prototype is, ranging from low-fidelity (e.g., sketches, wireframes, mockups) to high-fidelity (e.g., simulations, working models, pilots). The degree of evolution refers to how much the prototype changes over time, ranging from throwaway (e.g., disposable, exploratory, experimental) to evolutionary (e.g., incremental, iterative, agile). You should choose a prototyping approach that matches your objectives, constraints, and stakeholder expectations.

3 How to plan a prototyping session?

A prototyping session is a collaborative activity where you present your prototype to your users and stakeholders and solicit their feedback and suggestions. To ensure the success of the session, you should first define its purpose and scope, including the functional requirements to be validated or refined, the target users and stakeholders, and the available time and resources. Next, you should prepare the prototype and the materials such as a script, questionnaire, or checklist. Finally, during the session, introduce the prototype and objectives, facilitate interaction and discussion, and record feedback and suggestions with notes, audio, video, or screenshots.

4 How to analyze and incorporate the feedback?

The feedback that you receive from your users and stakeholders is a valuable source of information and insight for improving your functional requirements and your system. To analyze and incorporate the feedback, you should review and organize the feedback to identify the main themes and patterns, prioritize and evaluate the feedback to determine which items to act on, and update and refine the functional requirements and prototype. This includes modifying the functional requirements based on the feedback, revising and improving the prototype based on the functional requirements, and communicating and verifying the changes with your users and stakeholders.

5 How to iterate and evolve the prototype?

Prototyping is not a one-time activity, but a continuous and iterative process that allows you to refine and evolve your functional requirements and your system. To do this, you should test and measure the prototype, using metrics and criteria to evaluate its functionality, usability, reliability, and efficiency. You should also learn from the prototype and adapt it based on the key lessons and insights you've gained. Finally, you need to repeat and scale the prototype cycle with new or revised functional requirements and prototypes, eventually transitioning it to a more advanced or final version of the system.