A prototype's first and most essential advantage is that it represents the lowest possible sunk cost. There are at least two levels here: On the objective level, the cost of the physical production of exactly one prototype is negligible compared to the project's total cost. This gives you the freedom to test out the solution while risking the minimal cost possible. At the same time and probably even more vitally so, the minimal sunk cost also means there is a minimized effect on the decision-making process: there is no need to convince oneself of the virtues of the prototyped solution if there are none. Thanks to low sunk costs, the prototype opens an opportunity for a marvelous “no strings attached”-attitude. One of the comments most frequent when talking about deficiencies of the prototype was “Well, this is exactly what we made it for”. Indeed, the prototype was created to be criticized, optimized and, if needed, reinvented. Having this in the back of your mind helps you be very pragmatic and emotionally detached while improving it after being very pragmatic when creating it. This gives the project team a safe and robust structure for constructive discussions. With this in mind, the prototype provided an excellent point of reference: “Now we see what we definitely DO NOT want to see as a part of the final solution”, and having this point of reference made the deduction of the end solution much more straightforward.

On top of that, there are a couple of other advantages related to the prototype that came on top:

1. Dress rehearsal opportunity. Creating a prototype was also a dress rehearsal for the whole project team. If you will, this has been a short preview of what the “real” implementation would look like. Internally, it helped to uncover quite a few items that had been under the radar before that. At the same time, this “rehearsal” has been especially useful in getting to know the suppliers as most of them had just been onboarded and there was little predictability of their reliability. (Spoiler alert: they proved to be awesome and there will be a separate article about them at some point).
2. Building up the momentum. It has been increasingly rewarding to see the pace of the project evolving. While the discussion in the preparation of the prototype was iterative, deep, gradual and generally time-consuming, once the prototyping moment arrived, the tipping point was reached and it has been like sliding down a snowy hill on a sled since then (like a slippery slope, but in a good sense).
3. This is happening! The project at the expo center started initially in 2019. In 2020 it came to a halt during COVID-19. In 2022, when we started reanimating it after a couple of years of lethargic sleep, it felt exactly like it sounds: the whole project body had gone numb. The general sentiment was quite skeptical and its viability was assessed as “get prepared for the worst, but hey, miracles do happen”. This is where the prototype came in especially handy. With that, the physical output of the project marked an important psychological milestone as it made everyone realize – it’s for real!