In short
Real software, small in scope, that a subject-matter expert can run today. Not a mockup, not a slide. The unit of the first month.
A prototype here is working software with a narrow job: an intake form that writes to the CRM, a publishing flow for one kind of document, a report that runs on Monday. It is built in days, documented by the agent, and operated by the person who owns the process.
Prototypes are how we find out what a company should own. You cannot know from a whiteboard. You can know from a week of a real person using a real thing. Some prototypes grow into systems by day 30. Some are exactly enough and stay as they are. Some get thrown away, cheaply, because they were wrong.
Code is liquid. A prototype is what that looks like.
Example
What it looks like.
Built in week two: a form that takes a photo and a description, asks four questions, and produces a written assessment with a cost range. The owner ran it on real cases in week three.Related
Read next.
- Ninety-day transformationA fixed three months, in and out. Build in month one, live by day 30. Adopt in month two. Own in month three, when we hand over the keys, the instructions and the files.Read the definition
- vibe codingBuilding software by directing an agent in plain language, iterating fast, shipping before you would have finished the spec the old way.Read the definition
- documentationThe written record of how a system works. Here, the agent keeps it current, so the person who was not in the room can take over.Read the definition
- hand-offDay 90. We hand over the keys, the instructions and the files. Your team already runs it. Nothing is held.Read the definition