Let’s say I want to build something: a website, a house, or whatever. At the start of the project – before I even start planning my budget or writing that RFP – I need to ask myself these questions: “Do I really know what I want? Do I know what my other stakeholders want? Can I easily communicate whatever that is?”

Ask yourself these questions. If your answers are not a resounding, confident “yes,” (and psst…don’t worry if they’re not, they rarely are!) rest assured that you have a process that can help your team define your requirements and gain the clarity you need, and that is: prototyping.

Communicating Ideas is Hard. So is Making Decisions.

There are ideas, and there are things. Some things take shape effortlessly, spontaneously, like a seed becoming a tree. Other things are born out of ideas but need serious shepherding, like constructing a building. In order for these things to be realized, groups of people need to work together and coordinate their efforts. This all takes clear communication and effective decision-making. So what does all this have to do with requirements and prototypes?

Requirements are how we communicate our ideas, with the hope that they’ll be understood and properly executed, resulting in, well, a thing, be it a website or application or building. The problem is, we don’t always know how to articulate our ideas, or they’re only half-baked, and we need help explaining them. So, what can we do?

Talk Less. Prototype More.

If you’ve ever remodeled your kitchen, you may have encountered the IKEA Home Planner tool. It’s a 3D diagramming application that allows you to play around with different configurations for your kitchen, essentially creating your own prototype. You may or may not have any idea what you want before using it, but afterwards you’re left with a much clearer picture of your options. You also have a better sense of how realistic your ideas are (e.g., the Home Planner’s use of real measurements). In short, it makes whatever idea you had in your head concrete, while providing a touchpoint for all your subsequent questions and decisions. Without this concreteness, we’re lost; our words are inarticulate and hold different meanings to different people. Prototyping allows us to explore our ideas visually, helping us reflect on our assumptions and more effectively communicate our goals to others – which, in turn, greatly improves our chances of creating something that meets our expectations.

Putting it into Practice

Starting with prototyping can be as simple as sketching ideas on paper or using a tool to create a digital version. The point is to create something visual that moves your ideas from concept to something more tangible that your team can wrap their heads around. So prototype away, and the rest will follow. There’s a multitude prototyping and wireframing tools available out there. Here are some tools you can check out:

• OmniGraffle

• Moqups

• Webflow

• Balsamiq

• InDesign

• Keynote or PowerPoint (that’s right, PPT!)

• Or just sketch it on paper

At the end of the day you don’t need to have a fancy tool to do this (though that can be fun). As long as you’re forcing yourself to visualize exactly what you want – and thereby making decisions to affect the outcome of your project – you’ll be one big step closer to ensuring its eventual success.

#prototyping #communications #userexperience