Build the prototype before the deck
Why I now show clients something they can click within days, and what it changes about the conversation.
Early in my career I spent a lot of time on slides. Architecture diagrams, phased roadmaps, beautiful mock-ups. Clients nodded politely, and then the real requirements appeared the moment they touched the first working version.
These days I flip the order. I build a thin, working prototype first, often within a week, and let it lead the conversation.
Clicking beats imagining
On a recent marketplace build, the brief described buyers, suppliers and deals in clean boxes. The moment the client registered as a buyer and received the confirmation email, the questions changed. Who approves a new supplier? What happens if a deal stalls? Those questions shaped the admin portal far better than any workshop could have.
A prototype is a question you ask with software.
Keep it honest
Prototypes come with a risk: they look finished. I label what is real, what is illustrative, and what is next, and I keep that list visible. Trust is the whole product in consulting.
What it changes
Decisions get made faster, scope arguments shrink, and the people who will use the tool feel ownership because they shaped it. That is the part of technology I care about most: not the stack, but the moment someone realises it was built for them.
Aditi Singh is an AI Engineer and Consultant in Dubai who builds AI products people actually use. Get in touch.