We can’t underline enough the importance of prototyping to the successful development of software. Without it, you’re quite simply stepping into the unknown – relying on luck and judgement to produce a satisfactory end result. When such large sums of money are being invested into a product, you can’t afford to take this risk.

By going through the software prototyping phase, you’ll be able to clearly define your plans. Once the process has been finished, you’ll have something you can show to others working on the project, which will give them a concrete understanding of the desired functionality and aesthetics of the end result. You’ll also have something to show to potential customers, gauging their reactions before deciding to move into the software development phase.

Software prototyping is also essential to the creative process. Throughout the time spent creating the prototype, those working on the project can brainstorm and come up with new ideas, that often improve the look and feel of the final piece of software. What’s more, having a prototype allows developers to see whether ideas are good ones, or whether tweaks need to be made to improve the software.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, software prototyping enables you to save both time and money. The software prototyping process can be a reasonably long one, but it helps to prevent most issues from arising later in the project’s life, thus potentially saving far more time than it takes. Money is also saved, as they’ll be no need to rectify expensive mistakes further down the production phase.