POC / Rapid Prototyping
Prove the risky part before you build the expensive part.
A good POC answers a specific question. A good prototype helps people understand or test an experience. Neither should quietly become production software before the architecture and operational requirements are ready.
Use a POC when you need to test
- Technical feasibility
- AI/model suitability
- Integration constraints
- Performance assumptions
- Data availability
- Vendor capability
- Architecture patterns
- Cost/latency trade-offs
Use a prototype when you need to test
- User workflow
- Product concept
- Stakeholder alignment
- Interaction model
- Process redesign
- Whether a proposed capability solves the actual user problem
What you get
- Working evidence
- What was learned
- Constraints and failure modes
- Recommendation on what to do next
- Clear separation between prototype/POC shortcuts and production requirements
Timeframe
Focused POCs and prototypes can be delivered from as little as one week where the question is suitably bounded.
Scope determines the actual duration.