(Initial daft of blog, feedback still welcome)
All too often corporations (and individuals) design something in detail, and then want it built. It can become their grand plan, with many ideas incorporated. This is in some corporations an industry standard method of design.
Compare this to making a prototype that is able to run the basic idea of what you have as quickly as possible, and then getting feedback from it. There is nothing like seeing something work in real world situations, and then learning from them. This hands on learning is invaluable. It makes it a lot easier to design something.
Charles Babbage was guilty of this. He designed a mechanical computer, he spent much time on the design of a grand complete computer. He at one point ripped up one design because he thought it no good, to start again. If he has instead built small parts first that worked and showed his concept worked, he would have A) been inspired to carry on B) learnt lessons from seeing it in reality C) been much more likely to get investment.
People can see and understand something so much better when they can see it working. This goes for inventors, designers, and investors. This is far better than having to read pages of technical documents. Few investors will do this, and also it is hard for inventors to explain their ideas well as most are not professional writers. But to show them is a different matter. THAT can be their main way of communication.
As a side note: there is great power in doing reviews that can pick up where we may be going wrong as quickly as possible. And in looking to learn from mistakes uncovered. It was only when looking at a project and trying to get a handle on it, that I realized it had got too complex in the design. My love of invention meant I just kept on adding in more and more ideas, and had lost track of the core of what the idea was about in a sea of ideas. These ideas were good and were worth returning to, but I needed to know the core ideas, and to get them tested on real world data.
It's fun to get feedback, and to play with something. It keeps you in flow, because feedback is good for the soul.
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