It is a company’s goal to stay ahead of its competitors. As such, there has to be some processes that will provide customized service to customers in which flexibility and reliability are given focus. In this regard, the experimental concept of the Evolutionary Prototyping Model has become indispensable.
With this model, processes are made, and throughout the entire course of the project, customers are constantly asked to give feedback for each created prototypes. This is to ensure functionality based on the requirements that customers are looking for in a product or service. As soon as the project is nearing completion, the prototypes should already be well calibrated with the requirements and needs of its target market.
The Evolutionary Prototyping Model Phases
This model includes four phases:
- The identification of the basic requirements. Though we may not be able to know all the requirements since it is a continuous process, we should be able to identify the basic things needed for this project to work.
- Creating the prototype. There will be several prototypes to be made in this project, with each one better than the one before it to ensure its success.
- Verification of prototype. This will be done through surveys and experimentation using participants taken from the target market. The customers are the best people to get feedback from to find out whether the system is good or not.
- Changes for the prototypes. When found that the prototype is seen as insufficient or unsatisfactory, the project team will again make further iterations until such time it becomes perfect, as per feedback from customers.
The advantages of Evolutionary Prototyping Model
Since it is a series of repetitive iterations, it will be easy for customers to see some developments. If this is the case, gaining a positive impression from the target market is attainable because they can see how well you have been looking out towards improving systems to better handle customer service. Additionally, when the current systems are complicated and ineffective, the Evolutionary Prototyping Model will become invaluable since it can pave the way for better systems through a series of iterations. The project is only considered complete once there is already the creation of the perfect system.
The disadvantages of the Evolutionary Prototyping Model
With this particular model, it may be very difficult to forecast the completion date of the project. It is a continuous development, set up by as many iterations or prototyping as possible that it becomes hard to tell when it will be complete. For as long as there are still significant errors in the system, it will undergo further iterations. This can cost time and money for the company.
It is also important to note that since it is a trial-and-error process, it would require a good project management team in terms of knowledge and skills so as to make them capable of countering surprises along the way. Moreover, as an ever-changing process, getting dynamic and flexible people to join would be a very good advice.
The Evolutionary Prototyping Model is a high-risk type of model because simply put, it is a venture into the unknown. There is no way of anticipating what is going to happen and for how long this project is going to last. It is necessary, therefore, that you put only the best people in the team. Additionally, this model would work well for projects that do not have a clear set of systems and processes as it aims to find workable solutions to this problem, and is also great for those projects with very changeable and dynamic requirements.
It is best to say that this model is not useful for every project, and as with other models, it is always advisable to check beforehand if this will work for you or not. But as a series of experimentation processes, it is likely for anyone who to discover or create the best systems through the Evolutionary Prototyping Model, but this cannot happen without determination and focus on the part of each member
