Prototyping, verb

Main Entry: pro·to·type Pronunciation Guide
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Greek prototypon, from neuter of prototypos archetypal, from prt- + typos type
Date: 1552
1 : an original model on which something is patterned : ARCHETYPE
2 : an individual that exhibits the essential features of a later type
3 : a standard or typical example
4 : a first full-scale and usually functional form of a new type or design of a construction (as an airplane)

I didn’t find an entry of this word used as a verb, so that must be a corporate jargon-thing. If I were Webster, this would be my verb entry:

Main Entry: pro·to·type Pronunciation Guide
Function: verb
1 : to create a prototype; to spend one’s time and creative energy constructing a preliminary sample of a product
2 : to present this preliminary sample to one’s higher-ups to receive their feedback
3 : to go back and make changes to the prototype based on the input of one’s bosses
4 : continue #2–3 cycle. rinse. repeat until approved by management; sometimes this requires the prototyper to make circular changes. For example:

1st pass: ["This prototype has no teaching cycle. Add one. “The 5 Es” is a good one, use that."]
2nd pass: ["What are all of these Es doing all over the page? This is stupid. Remove them."]
3rd pass: ["Where is the teaching cycle? Didn’t we talk about the 5 Es? Where are the 5 Es?"]
4th pass: ["God, these Es are hideous. And what are they doing here? This does not work. Never mind the teaching cycle. Get rid of these God awful Es, please, before I throw up.”]
Finished product: [From our competitors: ”Why would you want to buy their product? They don’t even have a teaching cycle. Absolute nonsense. Suggest using this product for kindling. Buy ours—see our beautiful 5 Es?”]

5 : although the #2–3 cycle often requires several passes and dramatic changes, these changes often cycle back to ideas in the original prototype. For example:

1st pass: [“I know that you like simple interleaf pages, so I limited them to two. See how simple and clean they are?” boss: “Yeah, they’re clean, but are they useful? Where’s the teacher support? Backward mapping? Differentiated Instruction? These are non-negotiables! Isn’t usefulness more important than page numbers? Your priorities are all wrong….”]
2nd pass: [“Six interleaf pages?! You’ve got to be kidding me! What is all this stuff, anyway? Do we need all this?” prototyper: “Yes, these are…” boss: “Clean pages, we need clean pages. Why is all this stuff here?” prototyper: “Well, backward mapping took two pages, another two for differentiated instruction…” boss: “Who told you to add all that? I want clean pages, I tell you. Clean.”]
3rd pass: [“Two pages! Perfect! See, I told you you could do it. This is why I’m the boss and you’re not. You have much to learn.”]

synonym: see TORTURE

Prototyping is one of those things that most people find…how do you say?...unenjoyable. I think the only reason someone would go through it more than once is because the thrill of finishing a project gives one a sense of selective amnesia, not unlike the experience of childbirth, where the feeling of joy so overshadows the recent horror that one might actually consider entering willingly into the experience a second time.

I must be crazy, because I’m prototyping this week and actually enjoying it right now. Of course, that will probably change once it comes time to show it to the bosses and brace myself for the onslaught of voices and opinions and direction-that’s-not-really-direction. For now, I’m cutting and pasting and trying to have some fun.