tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.comments2024-01-22T02:24:55.286-08:00PretotypingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-32918041963235235352012-11-26T11:40:12.123-08:002012-11-26T11:40:12.123-08:00You book was part of learning materials for the ad...You book was part of learning materials for the advance International Business course in Turku School of Economics (Finland). Thank you for the interesting book. Easy to read, easy to understand, clear and vivid examples. I can say that I certainly will use approaches I saw in the book in my future career.Thank you!<br />Regards,<br />Elkhan <br />(Azerbaijan) Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01316618953830907075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-61027254877564800302012-10-17T23:09:17.095-07:002012-10-17T23:09:17.095-07:00Great post.I wish that it could have been translat...Great post.I wish that it could have been translated in different langauges.I am so glad that communication is not a barrier nowadays.The importance of a <a href="http://www.rosettatranslation.com/french-translation/%22" rel="nofollow">french translation</a> being accurate and efficient can indeed not be overstated. Especially in the ever faster moving world of globalized business, successful information and technology transfer within multinational businesses can make the difference between win or lose.miakahttp://www.rosettatranslation.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-77812223959269009822012-09-26T02:57:43.017-07:002012-09-26T02:57:43.017-07:00Excellent! I mean, we can never have enough, as lo...Excellent! I mean, we can never have enough, as long as some languages are excluded some people will feel excluded. Nice work!Dammann.com.auhttp://www.dammann.com.au/german-translator-perth.phpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-41459460900400167232012-09-21T04:19:00.940-07:002012-09-21T04:19:00.940-07:00Insightful book(let), Alberto. I work as a test co...Insightful book(let), Alberto. I work as a test consultant in a B2B software integrator, and too often I see detailed functional designs, that lose their relevance once people experience the finished product for the first time. The whole process of functional design takes place in thoughtland. I would like for us to start pretotyping before we build. <br /><br />I see it as follows. Right now we DESIGN, then BUILD, then TEST. I think we should DESIGN, then TEST (pretotype), then BUILD and then TEST. I'm leaving out the requirements phase, but the same goes there, I think.<br /><br />I had no problem with the font. It looks dated, but the content is relevant.<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />PaulPaul Baarnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09358196154516551270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-68793844188124387282012-09-18T15:43:17.764-07:002012-09-18T15:43:17.764-07:00Zarko, thank you for the feedback about the font. ...Zarko, thank you for the feedback about the font. I [Alberto] am to blame for starting the use of Courier to emphasize the manuscript/draft nature of pretotyping, but you may be right that it does not apply well to longer documents. Point well taken.Alberto Savoiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928255747877638720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-18387008143479444872012-09-18T15:25:19.774-07:002012-09-18T15:25:19.774-07:00Far from religious about choice of font but the on...Far from religious about choice of font but the one used in the PDF simply hurts my eyes. Anyway, I can't wait to read it as a follow up to the first book.Zarkohttp://twitter.com/zarkohnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-20361285068651396022012-09-11T17:04:47.227-07:002012-09-11T17:04:47.227-07:00Re: Grocery Gateway being successful where Webvan ...Re: Grocery Gateway being successful where Webvan failed.<br /><br />Thank you for the comment.<br /><br />Webvan makes a particularly good case because the 'it' that had to be tested (and should have been pretotyped) was not whether or not some people would order groceries online. That is, and was, a given. Some people with some frequency will undoubtedly take advantage of such a service. But how big is that market?<br /><br />Some of questions that Webvan should have tested with much smaller scale pretotypes were: What percentage of people would order groceries online? How often would they buy online? What kind of groceries would the buy? Would people in cities use the service more than people in the suburbs? Etc.<br /><br />Webvan's 'it' was not just an online grocer, but a massive play and bet on the assumption that A LOT of people would modify their behavior and shift their online grocery shopping online.<br /><br />In addition to that there was, as you mention, a timing component. People were not as comfortable with online shopping in 2001 as they are today. Something that is a clear 'wrong it' in one era could very easily turn out to be 'the right it' in another era (or another market/geography.)<br /><br />Finally, as you also suggest, there were also execution issues - not surprising since many of the key players in the company had little or no experience in the supermarket industry.<br /><br />I hope this clarifies why we believe that Webvan is actually a very good example of something that should have been pretotyped to answer some key questions before committing $100M+ dollars.<br /><br />Alberto<br />Alberto Savoiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928255747877638720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-59281244654342166242012-09-11T14:36:41.439-07:002012-09-11T14:36:41.439-07:00I'm not sure how this factoid might affect a r...I'm not sure how this factoid might affect a revision of this book, but GroceryGateway (http://www.grocerygateway.com) seems to be doing quite well up here in Toronto, Canada - they've been around for years now. What I'm getting at is that in your example, I'm not sure Webvan's failure was necessarily due to people unwilling to commit once the service was offered to them, but rather due to bad timing or execution failure. Adrian Sampaleanuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11855021084847016353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-27226332880501181922012-08-12T07:06:37.544-07:002012-08-12T07:06:37.544-07:00Nice post.I might say That the importance of a spa...Nice post.I might say That the importance of a <a href="http://www.rosettatranslation.com/spanish-translation/%E2%80%9D" rel="nofollow">spanish translation</a> being accurate and efficient can indeed not be overstated. Especially in the ever faster moving world of globalized business, successful information and technology transfer within multinational businesses can make the difference between win or lose.haydeehttp://www.rosettatranslation.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-68808033574314000972011-10-28T14:35:12.698-07:002011-10-28T14:35:12.698-07:00@Douglas, I just learned that - after a while - Sc...@Douglas, I just learned that - after a while - Scribd moves a document into "Archive" at which point they start charging people for downloading the document. I've removed the link to Scribd and provided a link to Google docs instead.Alberto Savoiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928255747877638720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-5367365321017051022011-10-28T09:58:59.993-07:002011-10-28T09:58:59.993-07:00Thank you for publishing the book on Google Docs. ...Thank you for publishing the book on Google Docs. It was a good read, and you gave me some ideas on how I can reduce the risks and cost of failure for a couple of my ideas. Chapter 4 was great. I hadn't thought of "The Provincial" before. Good stuff.<br /><br />BTW, scribd is trying to make money off your work. I couldn't download it without first either uploading something, paying for a monthly subscription, a day pass, or a year pass - though I can read it online. I just thought you should know.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15559723799482915113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-91532095358129390142011-10-23T17:09:45.375-07:002011-10-23T17:09:45.375-07:00Unfortunately I keep spelling it as pretetyping, w...Unfortunately I keep spelling it as pretetyping, which google doesn't know anything about. Maybe you could sneak that in somehow on your web site and see if google finds that?<br /><br />Great site by the way. I haven't read your book yet but I will.Ben Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13090090879393285080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-77811663528135596982011-09-14T10:18:03.785-07:002011-09-14T10:18:03.785-07:00@Jean-Charles, thank you for your comment. I assu...@Jean-Charles, thank you for your comment. I assume you have not read the book. If you do, you'll see that there are many examples of pretotyping that are VERY different from paper prototyping. The latter is a technique used primarily for experimenting with user interaction - how to build and design something. Pretotyping is about answering the question: Should we build this something in the first place. While for some types of products there may be some overlap, they are quite different in goal and scope. I hope you read the book, it's free and a quick read <40 minutes from beginning to end.Alberto Savoiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928255747877638720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-22272911755493204382011-09-14T10:09:42.992-07:002011-09-14T10:09:42.992-07:00I'd like to know what pretotyping provides, co...I'd like to know what pretotyping provides, compared to the older "Paper prototyping" method:<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_prototyping<br /><br />I noticed that there is a book about paper prototyping too, though I don't remember its title.Jean-Charles Meyrignachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14986951619009151970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-32234727706785417092011-08-31T19:15:30.817-07:002011-08-31T19:15:30.817-07:00I teach design thinking as a process for creative ...I teach design thinking as a process for creative problem definition and solving, and the rationale behind 'pretotype' is exactly the kind of prototyping we teach (and practice). <br /><br />And speaking of additional 'pretotype' examples, here is an old one that is quite good: "This example concerned the design of a portable computer for architects who need to gather a lot of information during visits to building sites. One of the first questions the designers explored was what form would be appropriate for their users. Without much ado they weighted a pizza box to the expected weight of the computer,<br />and gave it to an architect to carry on a site<br />visit. They watched how he carried the box, what<br />else he carried with him, and what tasks he needed<br />to do during the visit." <br /><br />The quoted paragraph is excerpted from Houde, S.,<br />and Hill, C., What Do Prototypes Prototype?, in Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction (2nd Ed.), M. Helander, T.Ê Landauer, and P. Prabhu (eds.): Elsevier Science B. V: Amsterdam, 1997.<br /><br />That article btw discusses the purposes and terminology of prototypes, and it's quite relevant to your model.Leticia Britos Cavagnarohttp://limedesignassociates.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-8579141769349481932011-08-31T06:19:21.947-07:002011-08-31T06:19:21.947-07:00just finished reading this book and right after I ...just finished reading this book and right after I stumbled upon this "wooden ipad" article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44334747/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/ :) Pretotyping in it's final stage, done testing, sell the pinocchioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-23216616341311663802011-08-25T09:17:05.468-07:002011-08-25T09:17:05.468-07:00Thanks Tommo. I am going to wait it out and see i...Thanks Tommo. I am going to wait it out and see if someone else creates the new article in Wikipedia - it's more satisfying and "legit" that way.Alberto Savoiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928255747877638720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-18293042524646090672011-08-25T08:17:43.689-07:002011-08-25T08:17:43.689-07:00Next step surely is to create a new article in Wik...Next step surely is to create a new article in WikipediaTommonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-68572406555852567342011-05-04T09:05:29.253-07:002011-05-04T09:05:29.253-07:00Hi Andy, your iPretoPad is itself a pretotype; as ...Hi Andy, your iPretoPad is itself a pretotype; as such, it's entirely possible that it turns out not to be something that most people would use. No harm in that - you did not spend too much time on it.Alberto Savoiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928255747877638720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-26266311722348467892011-05-04T04:24:12.609-07:002011-05-04T04:24:12.609-07:00Hi Alberto
Thanks for the mention. Yes I decided ...Hi Alberto<br /><br />Thanks for the mention. Yes I decided to build some wooden iPads for pretotyping. We held an internal Hack Day the other week and I wanted to get everyone involved, not just coders and so having read about pretotyping I thought it would be a good and fun idea to build these and see if the non-coders in the business could start to do some initial thinking for moving our product to the iPad - and then of course have the physical pretotype to start to "use" the apps. Was just for fun and a way to get people involved and come up with some new ideas.<br /><br />All I did was saw up some wood to the dimensions of an iPad, print of some templates I found on the web and then attach them with clothes pegs - simple really :)<br /><br />Was it a success? Yes and No... everyone who turned up was a developer and so we spent the day tinkering with CouchDB and Cassandra and trying some funky software ideas out. Although all of the developers thought they were great idea they weren't used on the day due to the audience, but I'll certainly try the idea again and maybe use the idea in the future for some "real" product development.<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />-AndyAndy Lathamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14004087326688252082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-68418719159193075802011-04-18T10:48:49.656-07:002011-04-18T10:48:49.656-07:00Thanks fafkulec! I fixed it. I love the irony of...Thanks fafkulec! I fixed it. I love the irony of having a typo when talking about typos.Alberto Savoiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928255747877638720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-51409321209189399012011-04-18T10:13:29.567-07:002011-04-18T10:13:29.567-07:00"Pretoyping" is still a typo. Did you me..."Pretoyping" is still a typo. Did you mean "Pretotyping"? :-)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01377557687729441614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-41539943874403701852011-03-20T08:17:11.803-07:002011-03-20T08:17:11.803-07:00@Colonel @Ryan, thank you for your comments. Yes,...@Colonel @Ryan, thank you for your comments. Yes, we've been slow to add material - but for good reasons, we've been busy doing rather than talking. Besides, we are pretotyping the blog itself to see if people are interested in the subject. But I'll add something good today!Alberto Savoiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928255747877638720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-56282056311266695532011-03-20T06:55:12.522-07:002011-03-20T06:55:12.522-07:00I agree with @Colonel Kernel, too bad you haven...I agree with @Colonel Kernel, too bad you haven't updated the blog in a while, this is an interesting and useful tool.<br /><br />It would be nice if you were to update the description to show how this concept isn't entirely tied to UI considerations. I have found that 'paper prototyping', er pretotyping, has been enormously useful in library and API and library design; developers are users too and should be considered with any software architecture.<br /><br />This approach is a nice way of chopping away unnecessary fat from a library and getting it down to the essence of what's needed. It also is a nice way to test your metaphors.Ryan Eccleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09448872905143304475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999333712157021553.post-80297708854866472662011-02-12T21:16:25.317-08:002011-02-12T21:16:25.317-08:00This IS my favorite example of pretotyping. I'...This IS my favorite example of pretotyping. I've had an idea for a bit where I considered fabricating something and pretending to use it. Had no idea someone coined a term for it.<br /><br />Sad to see there hasn't been any other posts since this first one.Colonel Kernelhttp://www.colonelkernel.comnoreply@blogger.com