Research & development
Small prototype, better decision.
New technology adds nothing to the work on its own. It adds something when the problem is specific, the data is reachable, and we agreed in advance what we would measure the result against.
Scroll to follow the stages
Stage one
It has no shape yet.
Every idea starts as a set of guesses: maybe this job can be automated, maybe this data is useful, maybe this tool answers it. None of them have been tested yet, and building the whole thing is the most expensive way to find out.
01 / 04
Stage two
The smallest thing that answers the question.
The first prototype isn't meant to be a product. It's meant to answer one specific question. The smaller it is, the sooner we find out what we were wrong about, while changing it is still cheap.
02 / 04
Stage three
The measure comes before the build.
If we don't write down what we're measuring against beforehand, any result can be justified afterwards. The measure is tied to your real data and your real process, not to something feeling better.
03 / 04
Stage four
Three outcomes, and one is not building it.
A prototype either becomes something we build, or shows which part has to change, or makes clear it shouldn't be built at all. That third result is also a result, at a cost you haven't paid yet.
04 / 04
Next step
If you have an idea and don't know whether it's worth building, that's the thing to write.
You don't need the answer first. Write the question you want answered; we'll work out the smallest way to reach it.