We're working directly from requirements to prototype, adding in supporting documentation of flows and wireframes only when needed, (Note a good overall style guide helps a lot).
The tactile nature of prototypes aides greatly in articulating ideas and displaying functionality to developers. Note prototypes do necessitate "discovery" of functionality, which can be problematic for new functionality, and this is where annotated diagrams shine as they're explicit. Prototype libraries, be they JS, CSS, HTML snippets, generic prototype, to draw upon makes prototyping much more rapid. Note we don't use Azure or iRise, but we do use Scriptaculous, Prototype, EXT, etc. As far as reuse of code, this has always been a slippery slope for us, (and everywhere I've worked). Certain elements translate well from prototype to build, such as CSS and JS transitions, Layouts can sometimes translate depending on what they are. The best prototypes are rapidly changed at low cost, production code level prototypes often do not have this flexibility. When we started focusing on "production quality code" for the prototyping it seemed to come at the expense of a focus on prototyping to requirements. This caused certain designs not to be prototyped as the "prototyping-engineering" effort was too high, (which does not necessarily translate to overall engineering LOE being too high). Modifiying prototype design became a cost benefit exercise, which is counter productive to the prototype experience, (rapid, cheap, aide to discover the new and make mistakes at low cost). Rich On 7/29/08, Todd Zaki Warfel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Jul 29, 2008, at 8:21 PM, Todd Moy wrote: > > Hi Todd - >> >> Not to skew the topic too much, but have you been able to move the >> prototype into something designers and developers can directly build upon? >> Or, have you found the prototype's code to be "throwaway"? (Which is not to >> say valueless, but simply that the code needs to be rewritten in the final >> piece.) >> >> -T >> > > While not typical for the industry, our prototypes are production quality > code and when we hand them off, engineering has been putting them into > production w/very little rework. > > However, I wouldn't let that prevent you from trying — 90% or more of the > prototypes built in the software industry are throwaways. There's still a > lot of benefit that comes from throwaway prototypes. > > > > Cheers! > > Todd Zaki Warfel > President, Design Researcher > Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. > ---------------------------------- > Contact Info > Voice: (215) 825-7423 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > AIM: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Blog: http://toddwarfel.com > Twitter: zakiwarfel > ---------------------------------- > In theory, theory and practice are the same. > In practice, they are not. > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- Joseph Rich Rogan President UX/UI Inc. http://www.jrrogan.com ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
