To succeed in the dynamic global marketplace, corporations need to routinely introduce innovation in their products, services, ideas, environments, and processes. The current global economic turbulence requires that new ideas be vetted, prioritized, and effectively tested with customers prior to initiation. Historically, companies have used prototypes in an ongoing conversation with customers to ascertain their actual needs and the attributes of products, services, processes, environments, and ideas most likely to satisfy those needs. Prototypes are an integral tool in the design process, not a result of it, and the appropriate use of prototypes is critical to mitigation of risk. This conceptual paper contends that prototypes—especially inexpensive, quickly developed two-dimensional paper prototypes—are a highly effective communication method used to elicit ideas and emotional responses in role discovery with customers, and should be a core competency and a primary mode of thinking and operating in every corporation.

To survive and thrive in the hyper-competitive global marketplace, corporations need to generate a steady stream of innovation (Kelley, 2005). Although product innovation receives considerable attention, companies may profitably conduct innovation in at least ten distinct areas of product, service, idea, and process development (Tekes, 2007). While generation of innovative ideas is not often a concern, contemporary financial considerations require that new ideas be vetted, prioritized, and effectively tested with customers prior to initiation. Throughout history, organizations have used prototypes in an ongoing conversation with customers to ascertain their actual needs and the attributes of products, services, ideas, environments, and processes most likely to satisfy those needs. Media depictions of single, perfect prototypes developed at the end of the innovation cycle followed by presentation with great fanfare and showmanship to clients are not only laughably wrong, but also grossly misrepresent the use of prototypes. Prototypes are an integral tool of the design process, not a result of it (Conley, 2007; Brown, 2008; and Jones and Samalionis, 2008), and appropriate use of prototypes is critical to mitigation of risk (Utterback, 1994; and Davila et al., 2006). This paper contends that prototypes, especially inexpensive, quickly developed two-dimensional paper prototypes, are a highly effective method to elicit ideas and emotional responses in role discovery with customers and should be a core competency in every organization. Innovation of products, services, processes, or ideas cannot occur unless new combinations of ideas are communicated from one person to another, and prototypes are a tangible method for doing so (Coughlan and Prokopoff, 2004; Brown, 2005; and Davila et al., 2006). Constant prototyping that ignores stale industry orthodoxies (Hamel, 2002) encourages insight into needed organizational capabilities (Jones and Samalionis, 2008), plausible future products and services (Kelley, 2001), and even entirely new areas of expansion for the corporation (Lafley and Charan, 2008).

Soft Skills Journal, Glue People, Practical Implications, Organizational Challenges, Temporary Organizations, Matrix Organizations, Multinational Construction Company, Product Development, Production Process, Project Controller, Organizational Goals, Construction Industry.