Methods
Prototyping
Building something deliberately incomplete to answer one specific question, such as whether users understand a workflow or whether an integration can supply the data needed.
Part of Digital Strategy & Discovery
A prototype is built to reduce uncertainty about one thing: whether an interaction makes sense to users, whether an integration is feasible, or whether an approach performs well enough. Anything not relevant to that question is left out.
Where it fits
Early in a project, when a decision depends on something the team cannot settle by discussion. The level of detail should match the question. A clickable mock-up is enough to test whether a workflow makes sense. Checking whether a third-party API can supply the data you need, at the volume you need, takes real code against the real service.
Its limits
Code written to answer a question usually skips error handling, security, edge cases and tests, because those were outside the question. The risk is that a prototype which works gets shipped as it is. Agreeing at the start whether a prototype is disposable or a foundation avoids having that argument later under deadline pressure.
How we use it
Each prototype starts with a written question and an agreed way of judging the result, so the team can say afterwards what it learned. Design prototypes go in front of the people who will use the system, and technical prototypes run against the real service or data wherever access allows.
Related
UX/UI Design & User Research, Web Application Development, System Integration & API Development