Prototyping is an important activity in most new product development processes. Whether the aim is to explore new opportunities or refine existing solutions, prototyping can be a valuable tool. This paper takes a look at the diversity of prototyping practices and the contextual factors that may have an impact on the prototyping strategy. Through existing literature and industrial as well as academic case studies, several prevailing contextual factors are identified and used as a basis to propose guidelines to aid practitioners in making important decisions when formulating a prototyping strategy. Prototypes are simply a snapshot of the product or service at that ‘point in time’. Each prototype serves a purpose. It helps the business make the next decision. Prototyping is a process but not a continuous one. There must be an endpoint. Jeff Rouse said, “prototyping cannot go on forever.”Hillary also referred to prototypes as a “collection of artifacts” that provides the business with a physical or visual view of the decisions that its made.
