Etymology Clipping of pre-prototype, from pre- + prototype, patterned after prototype.
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Neologism A model of product using the smallest possible amount of resources.
If, however, you built something inexpensive—a pretotype, in Savoia's parlance—and proved viability, there was still a lot of money on the table.2013, Bob Sullivan, The Plateau Effect: Getting from Stuck to Success:
Whether you call them pretotypes or rapid prototypes, the goal is the same: low-cost ways of making sure that you are solving a real problem and that your solution is the right one.2014, Austina De Bonte, Drew Fletcher, Scenario-Focused Engineering: A toolbox for innovation and customer-centricity:
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ILI's provide feedback used to create improved iterative versions of the pretotype for repeated testing.2015, Ajay Das, An Introduction to Operations Management: The Joy of Operations, →ISBN:
In the earliest stages, this could take the form of a sketch or simple cardboard pretotype.2016, Michael H. Morris, Eric Liguori, Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, →ISBN:
A pretotype, on the other hand, comes much earlier in the development process, before a decision to proceed has been made.2017, David Robertson, The Power of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation:
pretotype
verb
Etymology Clipping of pre-prototype, from pre- + prototype, patterned after prototype.
They were sending me examples of their pretotypes, asking me for suggestions on how to pretotype their ideas and were even lobbying with their colleqgues and managers to pretotype ideas before building them.2011, Alberto Savoia, Pretotype It: Make sure you are building the right it before you build it right, page 19:
Most, if not all, ideas can be prototyped (or pretotyped),2014 April 20, James Green, “Should You Leave a Stable Job to Start Your Own Company?,”, in Mashable Australia:
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An inert mockup can be used to pretotype just about any kind of carry-with-you device – would you/other people put up with having such a thing in your pocket/purse/handbag, all day long?2016, Tim Vang, From Holy Grail to structured fail: