Prototyping

[Mark Wieder]

Richmond-

Thursday, January 19, 2012, 1:57:45 PM, you wrote:

> Note the loaded language; "get honest feedback" - and what, pray tell,
> will make feedback
> their way, in some way, more honest than, say, my scribbling something
> with a pencil and paper
> in a restaurant?

I have a hard time seeing what you're scribbling over there.

> "Wireframes made with Mockups look like sketches, so stakeholders won't
> get distracted by
> little details, and can focus on what's really important instead."

Here's the basic idea: clients get a bit pushed out of shape when you
deliver them a prototype that looks too much like a finished product.
You end up arguing a lot over "that's not what I wanted" even though
all you're presenting is a first draft of some ideas. If you present
them instead with something that more resembles something scribbled on
the back of an envelope it's less threatening to their mindset. You're
giving them a chance to be more open to suggesting changes without
getting defensive.

They can also, as the quote mentioned, think more about what the
application is supposed to do instead of what color this button should
be or the fact that that field should be moved over two pixels. You
can wow them with the eye candy later on.

We use it at work to share mockups during the initial phases of
specifying an application before committing to a full development
effort.

...and I have a start at a Balsamiq-to-LC converter in the wings so
that you can turn your scribbled ideas into a working stack. So there.

-- 
-Mark Wieder
 mwieder at ahsoftware.net