Why, How, Prototype, Iterate (WHPI)
Why, How, Prototype, Iterate (WHPI, pronounced “whoopee”) is a generalized approach to rapid prototyping that can be used to develop any type of deliverable in an iterative, goal-based fashion. Building upon established practices from Agile and Design Thinking, WHPI encourages an outcome-first approach to prototyping that prioritizes the result of the prototype over the form of the prototype. It is equally accessible and applicable to any situation which calls for the creation of a deliverable.
The key idea behind WHPI is to timebox the creation of an initial prototype for any deliverable, while evaluating that prototype against a clear and agreed-upon set of desired outcomes. Grounding the prototyping process in a high-level “why,” before aligning on the actual format of the deliverable (“how” you intent to achieve those outcomes) helps break teams out of common patterns of busywork and overwork. Tightly timeboxing rounds of prototyping and feedback also ensures that the most important high-level decisions about a deliverable will be addressed before polish and finish are applied.
WHPI can be used for group or individual work, but is particularly useful as a way to delegate prototyping activities for small teams while staying aligned on overall purpose.
WHPI is utilized as a method in the final step (Act) of Sudden Compass’s Unlock Sprints™ practice (Ask, Acquire, Analyze, Act), or used outside of the Unlock Sprints™ practice to produce sprint-related deliverables. Because it is generalized to prototype any deliverable or experience, WHPI is particularly useful for thinking through how insights gleaned from the Analyze step could be incorporated into a broad and diverse set of potential deliverables.
Directions
- Working alone or with a small group of key stakeholders, define your “Why”: Why intended outcomes of the deliverable that will be prototypes. Note that at this point, you are not thinking about the actual form or format of the deliverable itself; just the outcomes that the deliverable is intended to achieve. For example, if you were a trainer looking to teach a group how to conduct Design Sprints, an outcome might be, “Participants are regularly running Design Sprints to solve business problems as part of their day-to-day work.” This step should be timeboxed to no more than 15 minutes.
- Document your “Why” and keep it in a prominent location, such as a sticky note on your desk (or a virtual sticky note on your computer desktop).
- Working alone or with a small group of key stakeholders, define your ”How”: What you will deliver in order to achieve your intended outcomes. For example, working from the above “Why,” you might choose to deliver a half-day training, followed by regularly scheduled follow-up office hours to ensure that the training is actually resulting in changes to day-to-day work practices. This step should be timeboxed to no more than 10 minutes.
- If working in a small group, assign one person to create the first prototype of the designated deliverable.
- Within a timebox of no greater than 1 hour, create a prototype of the designated deliverable. This prototype should as closely resemble the experience of the finished deliverable as possible. For example, a prototype of a half-day training with follow-up conversations could consist of a set of specific questions or activities that will be asked or conducted for each of these meetings.
- If working in a small group, reconvene the group to evaluate the first prototype. The prototype should be evaluated based solely on the question, “What about this prototype do we believe will help us achieve our desired outcomes, and what could be refined or omitted to help us achieve those outcomes?”
- Based on this round of feedback, assign one person in the group (ideally a different person from the first round of prototyping) to create a new prototype based on the feedback from the first one. This could build directly on the first prototype, or could involve re-creating an entirely new prototype based on the feedback from the first round.
- Repeat the prototype and iterate cycle as needed, until the group is confident that the prototype captures what is needed to deliver on the desired outcome. This should be no more than 5 rounds of prototyping, and ideally 3 or fewer.
- Depending on the nature of the deliverable, specialized finalization work (such as visual design and copywriting) can now be applied as needed.
