Advanced Prototyping Amalgamating Agile Methodologies

Painless Prototyping using Agile Methodology 

Prototyping as the name suggests is modeling a part of the project or a process before it is turned into a live entity. The whole project could be subject to modeling in a succinct form. Prototyping does not apply to the living due to the prevalence of perfect procreation but the living use this for integrating it into various developmental processes in the IT Industry and elsewhere.

Fewer headaches are the greatest benefit the Agile Methodology accords to software processes besides being fast and iterative. Iterative processes are better controlled since the process advances step by step creating modules that can be checked for performance and accuracy. It is easy to revert back to address the erroneous portion for rectification without derailing the whole process for just one corrective fixing. 

For the development team, Agile helps streamline and design the process in an iterative manner.  The methodology helps enormously in prototyping and in its advanced versions.  The methodology enables quick and frequent iterations during the development of mobile applications or software programs.  

There are many methodologies available for use but not all are open source and fit the process. Agile Framework with its subsets is the most preferred methodology implemented in the development process. The Agile success rate is as much as 64% as compared to Waterfall with a success rate of 49%.    The revenue growth is as much as 60 % and hence in the US alone, 71% of companies are using it and its subsets. Among the number of its subsets, SCRUM is the most popular. It is popular in 76 countries across the World.

The benefits of using Agile are that it aligns very well with business and IT Technology, the quality of software produced is enhanced and it accelerates delivery. But experience and skill sets are imperative for adopting it,  and the main reason behind its failure is inexperience. 

Some of the Agile Frameworks are:

  • Scrum
  • Extreme Programming 
  • Dynamic Systems
  • Lean
  • Kanban
  • Crystal
  • Feature Driven Development 
  • Prototyping 

Humans do not get things right the first time they develop a project, whatever it may be. If you are building a house bringing it down to restructure would be a humongous exercise with a great deal of investment lost.   Prototyping is a broad spectrum in nature and you may design any model that you think can be tested in real-time before the implementation. It could be Low Fidelity simple drawing or a sketch or it could be a testable version on your device.   

Prototyping in simpler words is making a mitigated live model of what has to be created as a whole. This is a testing methodology that creates a snapshot or a small module that could be evaluated. This saves time and money and verifies the whole project or developmental process. 

Is the final product going to be a success? 

Will the impact of the features be as desired?

So you create a replica generally a miniature version and test its features that will merge into the final product or be thrown away.  You keep testing the features and create a high-fidelity prototype with advanced features closure to the actual product for final evaluation.  

Remember in this case a replica is not cardboard cut out, it is an experimental process with tangible forms. You can validate the design and features while creating a model and even involve the client in the process, who will eventually pay for, and use the features in the finished product. 

The most popular prototyping methods used in contemporary software development are:

  • Incremental
  • Rapid (Throwaway) 
  • Evolutionary 
  • Extreme 

Advanced Prototyping for Problem Solving  

High fidelity prototyping is an advanced way of carrying out the whole development project. Also known as Hi-Fi Prototyping these are more costly and are implemented on computers and are computer-based representations of the final product. They are near representation of the original to be, but the degree of materialism, interactive components, time, skill set required, and features to be incorporated depends upon the plan. The factors may vary depending upon the budget, and the features/functions of applications to be tested.  

Drawing A Parallel 

In the case of web products, we have all seen the release of beta versions. These are near-final versions that are often launched as open source or free versions. These advanced technology probes and user interactions are much desired to aid in the development of the final release. Thus, high fidelity or advanced prototypes involve the end users and the feedback or reviews are the inputs that help in problem-solving. The problems emerge during the actual usage within a given timeframe and come to the surface and have to be tackled in the beta versions. Actually, these tests and evaluations are a never-ending process, and all things that humans make are not 100% perfect in relation to the environment, trends, and emerging technologies. Thus, in the case of user interface a terribly wrong exercise could be a roller coaster ride with no end in the sight. Hence prototyping is an indispensable problem-solving process.   

In advance prototyping, a good start should be the best way of moving forwards hence you need to understand the target personae i.e the user, have a clear grasp of the concept or the design, and have full control of the technology that is being implemented. The development process needs the methodologies like Agile will make the drive-through road ahead eliminating or maneuvering the treacherous pitfalls out of the way.   How to is obvious? And Agile is the answer! 



The popularity of Prototyping? 

Since the year 2015 prototyping has grown by a CAGR of 11.22 % this being the yearly average growth. The total market value in the World was over 466 million US $ in the year 2021. By the year 2028, it is expected to cross over 911 million US $.

Users do not care about the technology or methodology used, they are more interested in the final product quality and the functional importance. It is the design that influences users coupled with a sound UI and smooth UX.  Hence prototyping has become indispensable to overcoming failures. Most advanced prototyping agencies use high-fidelity features for testing and evaluation. They do this to overcome design and development problems and bring down the time and the cost.    

Uday provides SEO services for digital marketing. He provides website content and content for authoritative links. He also works as SEO Content Writer for Digital Marketing Company ATF Mumbai on a remote WFH basis. 

He can be contacted at: 

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