Rapid prototyping. Test an idea with Cordus Technologies

How do you know if a new digital product idea, future app or software will become popular and successful? Or have you decided to scale your business and therefore need a new mobile app. Idea validation and product prototyping are important aspects of an overall successful launch. Any idea has to meet four criteria. It must be: interesting, viable, feasible and holistic.

95% of start-ups do not make it to the end of their first year. 38% run out of funds or cannot raise additional capital when needed. 35% find that the market does not need their business idea; the released product goes unclaimed. By skipping the product validation stage, creating your product based on personal preference and pure guesswork, you are more likely to fail!

Checking a product idea
Product idea verification is the process whereby a product, service or business idea is tested in various ways to determine its validity and viability. One way of testing a digital or physical product is rapid prototyping. It allows for quick iterations, without developing an MVP, in real time, getting fast feedback. Cordus Technologies Inc. learns from a customer's idea and develops a prototype by benchmarking it with modules and plug-ins.

The journey from idea to MVP?
Prototyping an idea starts with collecting data, testing assumptions and hypotheses. By reviewing the business idea and using design-spring methodology, you skip the creation and launch stages and get the finished concept right away. Only then do they proceed to prototyping. This whole process usually takes 2-3 months. It is important not to overload the product and complicate it with unnecessary functionality.

Cordus Technologies, in rapid prototyping, measures the functionality of the software being developed through A/B testing and performance tests.

Types of Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototyping describes processes and models, it is usually considered in terms of:

- Horizontal prototyping, which focuses on a specific area of application software, such as the user interface. The goal is to familiarise the user with the graphical interface.

- Vertical prototyping, which highlights a specific area of software and demonstrates interaction with other system components and data management.

- Exploratory prototyping, which refines the profile of software requirements step by step through iterative and rapid prototyping in a test environment.

- Experimental prototyping, in which a project is created with basic functions and tested and the results of the experiment are incorporated into the actual product.

Three questions
Answer three questions: "Does the market need your application?", "Can it be built?" and "Will it be usable?" Rapid prototyping involves five steps.

Stage 1: Lean start-up. Prototyping (2-6 weeks): setting goals, defining objectives, exploring ideas, testing hypotheses. Outcome: Web access to a clickable design

Stage 2: Pre-prototyping (3-8 weeks): Test of complex user interactions. Outcome: Standalone HTML/CSS web app or mobile/tablet app (no server-side integration)

Stage 3: Design thinking: based on multi-lane actions performed in a non-linear way, the development team explores parts of the process and quickly applies the results.

Stage 4: End-to-end prototyping (12-16 weeks), testing complex user interactions and integration possibilities with the server side. Outcome: HTML/CSS web or mobile/tablet application, integrated with server-side APIs and databases.

Stage 5: Design-Sprint, provides answers to critical questions without creating or launching a minimally viable product.

"To find ideas, find problems. To find the problem, talk to people." Properly done prototyping gives a clear vision of the product, confirms the concept. Cordus Technologies uses rapid prototyping to validate ideas, minimise risk, align the interests of the parties.