Prototype Testing in Software Testing

This article focuses on discussing prototype testing in software testing. The following topics will be discussed here:

Let’s discuss each of these topics in detail.

What is Prototype Testing?

Prototype testing is the process of assessing the first draft of any product. Before launching a product in the market, it goes to prototype testing, which allows the developer to find defects and areas of improvement.

The developers deploy a product to people so that they can use it and ensure that the product works perfectly. People analyze the first draft and identify the areas that can be improved. Prototype testing is a vital component of launching any product. It helps developers to know and understand how the product will act in the market.

Characteristics of Prototype Testing:

• It provides a better idea about the exact requirements.
• It helps in identifying related problems to the product earlier.
• It ensures future final delivery will be easy to use, meeting user requirements.
• It helps in achieving an overall idea about the actual product.

The below figure illustrates the prototype testing model.

Prototyping testing Model

How To Test a Prototype?

Prototype Testing is a very complex operation. The type of the product determines the user’s interactions with the product. A developer should know the testing’s objective. Knowing the objective of it helps in developing the testing methods, questionnaires, etc.

Steps of Prototype Testing:

• Collecting and analyzing the user’s experience: After the user has provided the verdict on the product, the developer can decide on the steps needed to fulfill the requirements to improve the product. 
• Building a Prototype: Making a prototype is a common step one needs to do after collecting the information. A product’s type and phase determine the building of a prototype. The prototype data given by the users has a very vital role in this step. 
• Determine what is needed to be tested: This step most obviously focuses on the developer or the tester. Hence, you should know what needs to be tested before putting the first draft as a prototype. 
• Prepare a preparatory design of the product: Preparing an introductory design helps you in many ways. The rough outline of the product will provide you with an accurate prototype. It will obstruct further mistakes and also offers a reference for the final product.
• Assessment of user’s experience: In this step, conduct an assessment with the audience on the proposed prototype. The evaluation made of the proposed prototype will help the developer in recognizing the flaws. Furthermore, feedback will help in creating the product as user-friendly with the best user flow. 

What To Do With Output of Test?

Two important things need to be done after successful prototype testing:

1. Analyze the outcome: While performing the prototype testing one will receive various views, opinions, suggestions, points, feedback, and many more which cover different aspects of the product. The important step here is to analyze the documented data properly.
2. Implement the finding: After a thorough analysis, one needs to implement the required things and monitor the behavior. Then lunch the final product in the market. 

Best Practices For Prototype Testing

Below are some of the best practices that can be followed for Prototype Testing:

1. Know the requirements and reason for testing.
2. Use the right resources and required tools in the testing process.
3. Make sure involved people in the process take it as a prototype, not as a final product.
4. Show prototype and collect feedback from a wide variety of users.

When To Do Prototype Testing?

The following are some situations when prototype testing can be done:

1. When user requirements are unclear.
2. When the test concept is not designed.
3. When the product is complex.
4. When you need to identify associated issues.
5. When thinking about the actual product is unclear.
6. When it is required to identify areas of challenge and improvement

Importance of Prototype Testing

• Prototype testing plays a very important role in a developer’s life. It is an easier and cheaper way of testing a product’s feasibility before launch. 
• The prototype testing helps each member of the team to understand the process. By building a prototype everyone can get a clear idea of the exact requirements.
• With the help of prototype testing, the development team can get an initial idea about the possible challenges that may come.
• It helps the developers to estimate the total cost of building a product.
• Testing the prototype of a product helps the developer to improve the viability of the original product before launch.  
• The modifications made to the product reduce the risk of failure while launching the product.
• Prototype testing also helps in providing positive or negative feedback from its audience.

Types of Prototype Testing

1. Low-Fidelity Prototype: Low-Fidelity Prototypes are mostly paper-based designs or layouts. It does not authorize any audience interactions.
2. High-Fidelity Prototype: High-Fidelity Prototypes are computer-based, and realistic in appearance. These prototypes highly support user interactions.
3. Live-Data Prototype: Live-Data prototypes are programming-based simulations. These prototypes are the actual proof that the product works perfectly or not.  
4. Feasibility Prototype: Feasibility Prototypes are algorithm-based stimulation. It lets developers know the risks and how the product will perform in the market.

Benefits of Prototype Testing

There are many advantages to doing prototype testing before launching a product. Some advantages of Prototype testing are as follows:

• Identify Issues in Design & Development: It helps in pointing out defects in your design. Knowing the defects of the design will help you to patch them up. 
• Get an Idea about Resource Requirement: Prototype testing helps you to estimate materials needed, manufacturing time, manpower and technologies required, etc. 
• Gather Feedback and Implement: The audience’s feedback will help in avoiding a bad user experience. Moreover, the preliminary tests are very valuable before launching the final product. 
• Build a Quality Product: A defect-free development results in a quality product. It’s affordable to solve the defects in a product before the launch.

Drawbacks of Prototype Testing

• Time-consuming: Creating a prototype requires a significant amount of time and effort, which can impact the overall project schedule.
• May be too simplistic: Prototypes may not always capture the full complexity of the software requirements, leading to an oversimplified version of the final product.
• May lead to scope creep: Stakeholders may become attached to certain aspects of the prototype and request additional features or changes, leading to scope creep.
• Lack of documentation: Prototypes are typically not fully documented, making it difficult to reproduce or maintain them in the long term.
• Potential for misunderstandings: Stakeholders may misunderstand the purpose of the prototype and assume it is the final product, leading to confusion and miscommunication.
• May be costly: Depending on the complexity of the software, creating a prototype can be costly, requiring additional resources and time.

Conclusion

After the product creation, delivering a feasible product to the users is the last stage. Hence, to know if the product has any defects or not, it goes for prototype testing. After the long process of prototype testing, doing final polishing is necessary for the product.
In the refining process, the developers need to crucially examine all the user data. After the examination, the developer has to make important changes to improve the product. The last step is the launch of the final product. A small pilot test is conducted by the developer to evaluate the final product. Therefore, the pilot test gives final revision to the product. It ensures the developer that the product is working efficiently.

Prototype Testing is an important step to be done after the creation of any product. Testing the prototype gives the developer confidence that the product is flawless. However, creating a prototype of the product is very expensive. But if the prototype testing is a success, then the product works efficiently in the market.