The Power of a Proof of Concept (POC)

Today, we’re turning our attention to the role of a proof of concept within your initiatives, and why it’s worth considering this technique.

For starters, a proof of concept (POC) is a small scale model of what a business process or system could look like. The intent of a POC is to specifically address the unknown areas of a potential solution to determine viability.

As a result, a good POC answers two critical questions:

1. Can we do this? We ask this after a potential solution is selected and we need to figure out whether it’s actually possible or the experience would be as desired.
2. Should we do this? We ask as the POC is built with the goal of figuring out if the approach is worth continuing, which either results in modifications or scrapping it.

The three main benefits of using a POC-driven design approach are:

1. Provide a reality check for stakeholders: even the best documented designs resonate differently with stakeholders, so seeing a (semi) functioning POC serves as a grounding force to collect feedback and collaborate on changes to a solution
2. Validate the technical approach: using a new system or connecting multiple systems together in an unconventional way are two instances where we’re in uncharted territory, which allows the POC to validate whether the approach is viable and scalable
3. Build momentum for the project team: larger initiatives tend to increase the likelihood of feeling fatigue at each phase as there are lot of areas to discover, design, and deliver, so seeing tangible progress during a phase can be a positive boost to momentum

If you’re considering how to use a POC in your next project and don’t know where to start, here’s my guidance:

• Focus on the top 3 risks of your solution to confirm whether your expectations are correct about how those work
• Aggressively limit the time spent to ensure that people involved in producing the POC are able to commit 1-2 days on building a majority of the POC, then have a week to finish any tweaks while collecting stakeholder feedback
• Document learnings throughout the process in a place where the entire project team can react real-time and replay the experience from start to finish as needed; a Slack or Teams channel works great for this
• Use “vaporware” or “talk tracks” for the areas that you know are already proven, like how the start of an existing business process works or how to integrate data between two systems (when you’ve done it before)

Remember, the goal of the POC is not perfection, rather it’s to ensure that the solution is viable and worth continuing to design for the remaining subset of the requirements.

TLDR: Creating a proof of concept (POC) during the design process can serve as a reality check for stakeholders, validate the technical approach, and build momentum within your initiative.