We don't guarantee you a prototype. We guarantee you a decision.
Before you commit budget, people and months to an initiative, we test your idea with a working throwaway version, in minutes rather than months. At the end you know whether to stop, adjust, integrate or invest.
No result? No charge!
The problem
The costliest mistakes begin with an assumption everyone agreed to before anyone tried it.
"Users submit work for approval" sounds clear in a meeting. As soon as someone uses it, the questions appear: what happens if the work changes after approval? If the reviewer is absent? If two people approve at once? You want those answers before a project starts, not after the third release.
How DEAD works
- Describe. We write down what you believe today and what you need to find out. Assumptions stay labelled as assumptions.
- Execute. We build the cheapest version that makes the open question visible. Sometimes a simple screen is enough, sometimes it takes a small working program. With test data, never with real approvals or credentials.
- Attack. A working happy path is only the beginning. We change the case, the person and the timing, and ask the uncomfortable questions: who is actually allowed to decide this?
- Discover. We record what works, what fails and what needs deciding: as cases, rules that must always or never hold, and open questions.
Then we throw the prototype away. What remains is the learning: written down, traceable, and the basis for the real build.
What you get
- A decision with reasons: stop, adjust, integrate or invest.
- The basis for the next step: cases, rules and acceptance criteria a team (or an AI) can build on directly, for example in ACD.
- The open questions and who owns them: what only your specialists or management can decide.
Sometimes it turns out no new software is needed at all, just a different way of working. That's a success too, and an inexpensive one.
Offer and billing
| What you get | Billing | |
|---|---|---|
| Decision session | One idea, feature or stuck decision, worked through live with DEAD [duration, e.g. half a day, remote or on your site | Fixed price. No decision, no fee. |
| DEAD in the results package | Your team learns to test ideas itself in minutes, as a standing routine before any larger investment | Participation or fixed price |
Proof
The method is described in Michael Küsters' book "Prototyping is DEAD" (Leanpub). You can apply it yourself. With us, you have the decision after one session, and without a decision you pay nothing.
FAQ
What exactly does "decision" mean? A written recommendation to stop, adjust, integrate or invest, with the observations it rests on. Stopping is a full result.
Do we get the prototype? You get everything you learned from it. The prototype is a measuring instrument, not built for operation, so it doesn't go into production.
What if no decision can be reached in the session? Then you pay nothing.