prototype

To validate risky product ideas, use a structured rapid-prototyping workflow to build throwaway prototypes that test your riskiest assumptions. This generates a formal report that retires architecture and user-experience risk before you allocate full development resources.

A throwaway prototype is temporary code built to validate a specific concept, not for production use. Use it during ideation and concept vetting phases to retire risk early, producing a detailed report suitable for PRD and ADR transitions.

Structure a prototype report by following a nine-phase workflow that documents framing, success criteria, constraints, and run instructions. This generates a formal REPORT.md artifact designed explicitly for decision-making and PRD/ADR transitions.

Yes, rapid prototyping applies across ideation-to-implementation stages for both architecture and user-experience ideas. It frames the riskiest assumptions and executes a defined process to produce throwaway prototype code and a formal validation report.

The best way to frame risk assumptions is to identify your single riskiest assumption upfront, then execute a structured nine-phase prototype workflow. This guides teams through framing, constraints, and run instructions to produce a formal validation report.

Avoid throwaway prototypes when your concept carries low architecture risk or requires immediate production deployment. This workflow targets high-risk validation during ideation and concept vetting, outputting temporary code and a report rather than production-ready features.