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Advantages
- Better quality system delivered. Sometimes a developer may not fully understand what the end user is expecting. Prototyping enables any misunderstandings to be identified and sorted out early on in the process.
- Identify problems early on. A working system is available early on in the process. The user can identify possible improvements which can be made before the system is completed.
- End user involvement. The end user feels more involved in the development of the system and will 'buy' into it.
- Fulfil user requirements. A system which has been through prototyping will generally have an improved design quality and will be far closer to what the user needs.
- Cost savings. It is far less expensive to rectify problems with the system in the early stages of development than towards the end of the project.
- Training. The prototype can eventually be used to help train staff while the real system is still being fully developed
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Disadvantages
- Excessive development time. When the end user is asked to evaluate a prototype and provide feedback there is a risk that they will be forever wanting to tweak the system, thus leading to delays in development
- User confusion. Sometimes features appear in a prototype which are then removed from the final system. Users can become confused or disappointed with the final system if it differs greatly from the prototype.
- Increased development time. The end user might start to ask for features to be included which were never in the original user requirements specification. This can lead to increased development time and costs.
- Too much focus on one part of the system. When a lot of time is spent on a prototype of one specific part of the system, other parts of the system might end up being neglected
- Expense of prototyping. Building a prototype costs money in terms of development time and possibly hardware. While the prototype is being worked on, the real system is on hold.
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