I am a big fan of human-centered design, with its focus on customer empathy, ethnographic research, and rapid prototyping, which help companies get close to the target. But I am also excited about “stagecraft,” a related approach that fakes a new product or service to get real-life reactions from users early in the development process. It uses all the tricks of theater and film to fool an audience into believing that what they are seeing, hearing, or even touching is the real thing.
When a Prototype Isn’t Enough, Use Theatrical Tricks to Sell Your Idea
Human-centered design, with its focus on customer empathy, ethnographic research, and rapid prototyping, often helps get companies close to the target. “Stagecraft” is a related approach that fakes a new product or service to get real-life reactions from users early in the development process. It uses all the tricks of theater and film to fool an audience into believing that what they are seeing and hearing or even touching is the real thing. Employed early in the development process, stagecraft can yield critical insights that you might not discover until you’re well into the traditional development process. In the traditional process, testing with live customers usually does not occur until a product has been fully spec’d and a prototype is built. With human-centered design, live testing begins early, but uses a “minimum viable product” that has just enough features to engage early users and elicit feedback. In stagecraft, the early test model is much more elaborate and has all the bells and whistles of the real thing — or appears to. This is important for getting the design right when you are developing a complex product and service rapidly.