Software development is one of the most competitive industries these days. Even if we look only at the applications, the numbers are staggering. There are tens of thousands of new apps released every month, and obviously, only a handful of them become successful. No matter how original the app concept might seem, a lot of considerations need to be taken into account before making the final decision to turn the concept into a working app.
Both a proof of concept and a prototype are often mentioned among the most popular methods that help to determine if a product idea is viable and worth pursuing. These methods are not specific to software development, lots of other industries apply them as well. Most of us have heard about these methods, but since these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, it can be difficult to untangle one from the other and understand how exactly a PoC works as opposed to a prototype.
It gets even more confusing because there is a third term widely used in similar cases, a minimum viable product. We will put together the most important details on each method to clarify the differences and answer the question of when to use them to bring the most value to your organization.
What is a proof of concept?
No matter how great your idea may seem to you when it comes to working in real-world conditions, there is always a possibility that it will end up a huge waste of time and resources. A proof of concept is a solution that can minimize the prospective damage. This method is how you validate your idea before starting the development process.
Creating a proof of concept is the earliest stage of getting the new product or feature approved for development. Typically, a PoC is a set of documents or a detailed presentation that confirms your idea can actually be implemented as a practical solution. There are no strict rules that define what exactly your PoC might look like. For example, you can include a wireframe (a diagram or several diagrams made of simple lines and shapes) to give a better understanding of how your idea translates into a final product, or you might just describe the core functionality using bullet points.
The main purpose of a PoC is to show the stakeholders that the idea is indeed feasible from a technical point of view, but depending on the exact case it will require far more than just the technical research. As a rule, to prove the viability of the idea, you need to look at your future app’s target audience and identify a certain problem or need that your complete product can solve or fulfill. It is useful to identify users’ pain points so that you can make sure your concept provides a solution that will address those needs.
Market research is typically also a part of conducting a proof of concept since, when you know there is market demand for specific application development, it will be easier to get your product manager or prospective investor to approve the project.
If you’re curious to learn more about PoCs, their advantages, and how to build them, check out our previous article on what is a proof of concept and why you need one.
When you need a proof of concept in software development
A proof of concept is the earliest stage of a new project, but it is not something that you need to carry out every time you plan to add a new feature. Most often, you will need a PoC when the idea behind the proposed application is something new and different from what is already out there in the market.
A proof of concept will help you determine that the concept you envision can actually become reality. When you conduct a PoC, you get the opportunity to discover the potential limitations of your idea and see the risks that might be waiting for you in its implementation.
Depending on the project scope, sometimes you run a PoC internally within your development team, so you can make sure that a certain technology stack or methods would be a good fit for a specific new functionality that you are adding to an existing project. But it is also a popular method to find investors that can support your new project financially in the future, since besides the technical details, a PoC often includes the key business concepts and helps you analyze the development costs.
What is a prototype?
While a proof of concept is used to confirm that it is possible to turn a certain business concept or technical idea into a real product, a prototype is a way to illustrate how exactly it can be done. It is another early stage of application development, and the main idea behind a prototype is to gather user feedback not just on the app idea in general but on its navigation flow and design so that it can be improved if necessary at the point in your project when it is still possible to do so without significant expense.
An application prototype can look very different, but it is usually not a fully-functional, working model of an application. It should show how the application will look, but typically actual coding will not be involved. A prototype can begin as a simple wireframe or a mockup, sometimes even drawn on paper, but if you want to fully measure how satisfied your potential customers will be with the look and feel and usability of the app, you might want to consider an interactive model.
There are multiple software options that will allow you to create a detailed, clickable prototype, like Framer or Axure, but one of the most popular tools is Figma. When you use Figma for drawing a prototype, you can get the actual HTML and CSS based on the look and feel, which can then be injected into your application when the development process starts.
You can learn more about the prototyping process and its importance in UX in our article How a UX prototype can improve your product.
Types of prototype development processes
Depending on the kind of product idea you are working on and the available resources, you can choose between several different types of prototyping.
Rapid prototyping
This type of prototyping process presupposes creating an artifact that will be used for a short period of time. It can be used for a certain stage of development or even just a single sprint if you are creating a prototype for a new feature of an existing application.
After you get some initial feedback, the prototype can be changed and improved. Once the product team is happy with it, it is then used as a reference, but it will be discarded and replaced with a new prototype once the next stage begins. That is why they also call this process throwaway prototyping.
Incremental prototyping
This type of prototyping is better suited for an application based on a more complex concept. If your future application consists of multiple components or modules, your product team can create prototypes for each of them, working in parallel. These prototypes are evaluated and improved separately, so watch out for UX and UI consistency. The prototypes should be properly integrated before further development starts.
Extreme prototyping
Mostly used for web development, extreme prototyping presupposes three stages in the prototyping workflow. First, a basic wireframe or HTML prototype is created, which should include all pages of the web application. During the next stage, a prototype services layer is simulated by developing a fully functional UI. This second stage is why this type of prototyping is called extreme. The final step is creating a final prototype with integrated services, which will require significant coding effort from the engineering team.
Evolutionary prototyping
In some cases, a prototype can actually be developed as not just a simulation but a functional product, although it will only have a minimal feature set. Evolutionary or breadboard prototyping is an iterative process where a prototype with minimal features is built first, corresponding to the requirements that are well understood by the product team. Then this first prototype is used as the core of future prototypes that are created over time when new functionality also becomes clearer.
When you need a prototype
Although, theoretically, you can create a prototype after you conduct a PoC, in practice, you will discover that often these two methods are implemented side by side. Adding a prototype can be a better way to attract investors because it shows exactly how your application will look, how the user flows will go, etc. but also isn’t too costly to actually build.
Typically though, a prototype is used as a valuable exercise that will ensure you are not just moving in the right technical direction but also that your app’s user experience is indeed of high quality. A complex concept, no matter how original and innovative, might not be that easy to translate into a high-quality UX. A prototype gives you an opportunity to gather in-depth feedback and gain insights to quickly improve the navigation or layout of your future app to make it more intuitive and user-friendly.
While a PoC is most often limited to the internal circle of your product teams, a prototype can be shared with some of your target users to check the product-market fit and gather user information on UI and UX. It might require you to share internal knowledge with some users outside of your immediate team, but it will be worth it in the long run, thanks to the user intelligence you can gather from external user testing.
All in all, you need a prototype when it is necessary to provide a more practical confirmation that the future product launch has the potential to be a success and that the future app design and layout will transform into great UX. Positive feedback from test users is always a good sign. Essentially, building a prototype is how you can prove the technical feasibility of an idea and create a tangible artifact that will illustrate and test the key hypotheses outlined in a proof of concept.
What about a minimum viable product?
Speaking of a proof of concept and a prototype is a great opportunity to clear up any confusion regarding another method of testing the assumptions that concern a new application, a minimum viable product. It might seem hard to find the border between a prototype and an MVP, but typically there is one significant difference that can help.
An application prototype is usually created before the product development starts, it is used to make sure the product should indeed go into production, and building a working app out of it has the potential to make all the stakeholders happy.
A minimum viable product is created at a later stage of the project lifecycle. It is an actual functional app that can be used in real-life conditions. However, it is not the same as the final product. An MVP contains only the features that are necessary to successfully use the key features (selling points) of the product, but not all the features that the app will eventually have. It is an iterative process, so with time more and more core features are added.
The idea behind an MVP is minimizing development costs. You create an MVP to confirm there is demand for an application of this kind. The number of early adopters who will use the app might not be that big, but you will get immediate value from user feedback. It will allow you not only to confirm that the product works as planned and its technical capability meets expectations but also to learn which features the users want to see added first, so you can adjust the development priorities accordingly. An MVP creates the opportunity to test the core feature set against real-life scenarios and get baseline performance statistics.
To learn more about the nuanced differences between these approaches, check out our articles on MVP vs. Prototype and MVP vs. PoC.
Choosing a proof of concept vs. prototype in product development
So which method should you choose for your project? Creating a prototype first ensures the higher quality of the final product since it allows you to eliminate any faulty features or counterintuitive layouts at the very beginning of the project lifecycle. It also allows you to improve the product team’s understanding of the core features so that you can be sure all your developers are on the same page before the development process begins.
A proof of concept is a great way to attract investors, but it has even greater significance. If you rush into building a prototype without performing a PoC, you might end up wasting valuable resources on an idea that will never ensure a significant return on initial investment.
In an ideal world, you don’t have to choose just one or the other. Implementing both a proof of concept and a prototype has major benefits for your project. A lot of successful applications went through both a PoC and a prototype phase, so if doing both is an option for you, it can be the solid foundation your project needs to make sure it generates impressive revenue.
