James Governor's Monkchips

On Makers and Prototyping

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twttr sketch

My good friend Robert Brook just wrote a pithy post on “prototyping“. He raises some interesting questions that chime with my own thinking. Let’s face it- Twitter is really just a prototype that happens to have 100m+ users. Prototypes are often quick and dirty, but that’s a good thing. The value of an app is a function of its immediate and future utility, not of an ROI projection.

Effective prototyping is essential for corporate pace layering of IT assets and governance. But if someone is telling you the prototype they want to build can’t actually be put into production well, that’s bait and switch isn’t it? Beware consultants bearing prototypes. If you have a good in-house development team on the other hand they will actually learn from building the prototype. And with any luck they’ll be able to put it into production. IT prototypes should not be like Concept Cars – but more like  a sketch that can be filled in, added to, and made into “the finished article”. A prototype should be more like a scaffold and less like a facade.

What I really like about the post however is that its about RedMonk’s base- the makers and doers. Robert says:

I’m more interested in tactics than strategy. Other people can do strategy – they certainly want to and they’re better at it than I am. My tactical interest in in tools, services and methods that support delivery. Actual things. Stuff.

RedMonk likes stuff too- and prototypes should be stuff, not nonsense.

15 comments

  1. R @monkchips: Twitter is really just a prototype that happens to have 100m+ users. http://monk.ly/bVxl6V [and this is a good thing!]
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  2. On Makers and Prototyping: My good friend Robert Brook just wrote a pithy post on “prototyping… http://bit.ly/dhJx6u http://bit.ly/9g5yaL
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  3. Agile méthodologies actually removed the distinction between prototype and production quality. Every release should aim to be production quality and be deployed in production.

    In practice some releases don’t have the quality level to be deployed and never make it to production. But that’s the exception, and we never use the term prototype.

  4. Slim – well said. i should have called out “agile”.

  5. […] James Governor: Effective prototyping is essential for corporate pace layering of IT assets and governance. But if someone is telling you the prototype they want to build can’t actually be put into production well, that’s bait and switch isn’t it? Beware consultants bearing prototypes. If you have a good in-house development team on the other hand they will actually learn from building the prototype. And with any luck they’ll be able to put it into production. IT prototypes should not be like Concept Cars – but more like a sketch that can be filled in, added to, and made into “the finished article”. A prototype should be more like a scaffold and less like a facade. Share this post: […]

  6. Gives hope that one day it will work RT @monkchips twitter is just a prototype. that happens to have 100m+ users 😉 http://bit.ly/9fvznD
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  7. timoreilly
    #designtheory RT @monkchips twitter is a prototype. that happens to have 100m+ users http://bit.ly/9fvznD via @timeoreilly
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  8. 흠~ 튀터는 어쩌다 100억명의 사용자를 가지는 프로토타입이다! RT @monkchips twitter is just a prototype. that happens to have 100m+ users 😉 http://bit.ly/9fvznD
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  9. palafo: RT @monkchips: Twitter is really just a prototype that happens to have 100m+ users. http://monk.ly/bVxl6V:… http://bit.ly/9dOyDa
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  10. I’d agree that ‘stuff’ is more interesting, but you’ve got to have a *reason* for that stuff, surely – which is the strategy element. There’s no point building really interesting twitter stuff if there’s no need for it!

  11. Twitter is not a prototype just because they have stability issues. No other website in the world has load spikes like Twitter does, not even Facebook or Google. Not an easy task to handle.

    1. thanks all. @hajon i fear you may have missed the point, fwiw. twitter is a prototype because it has always been an artifact rather than a set of requirements.

  12. […] James Governor’s Monkchips » On Makers and Prototyping RT @monkchips twitter is just a prototype. that happens to have 100m+ users […]

  13. Is Twitter is really just a prototype that happens to have 100m+ users? http://monk.ly/bVxl6V via @monkchips @martindave
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  14. Fred Brooks disagrees. “Build one to throw it away.”

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