The most important skill as a prototyper: Empathy!

I think one of the most important abilities you need as a prototyper or business designer is „empathy“. Being able to put yourself in the shoes of others is important because you constantly have to switch between multiple perspectives:

• The team: Most of the time you are working on prototypes of ideas which are not yours. Therefore you need to understand how the team behind the idea thinks and feels about it. You need to picture what’s going on in their minds. Often about things things the team hasn't properly understood themselves (yet).

• The customer: The prototype you built is not only built for your team, but more importantly for a future customer. Therefore you constantly have to think about how a potential customer thinks and feels when working with your prototype.

When building prototypes, you constantly have to think outside yourself and see the world through the eyes of others. The good news is, you can practice that: Try to become a very good listener, who asks a lot of questions and who is deeply interested in the perspective of others. And watch out for details in what people tell you.

What people actually think and feel is often somewhere between their words. Hidden behind some bold statements.