
powderDesk Inception to Prototype
Find a way to bring a new product to market in under six months with a four man team. This is the story of an idea coming to life in the form of a prototype. The rest of the story is for another time...

challenge
We were a small three man team with a great idea to revolutionize the way people use help desk software. In order to get there we needed funding and customers yesterday.
solution
We built surveys, interviewed customers, and spent many a day in front of whiteboards. Collaborating remotely and at times in person we took our research and built out wireframes with the core functionality. As quickly as possible, clickable HTML/CSS prototypes with faux data were put together for nearly the entire application. We then used the prototype to validate our assumptions and garner interest. The prototype was critical in building the application in ruby on rails in a matter of 6 months!
responsibilities
use surveys • user flows • wireframes • user testing • prototyping
Luckily, we had a product owner with a detailed vision that just needed to get out on paper. Several all day, and sometimes night, sessions to get the ideas out of his head, on to a white board and on to user stories and wireframes. In conjunction with user research, user surveys and simple user testing we had the requirements needed to start working on a prototype.
While iterating on wireframes and clickable flat mockups does provide valuable insight, there is nothing like a clickable prototype that feels real to the user.
Built using bootstrap and themed with HTML/CSS/JS and populated with paux data and behavior.
Used for demos, presentations, and user testing.
“The team at powderDesk continues to impress us with their dedication to fluid design and their attention to detail. The value they place on building relationships is something we especially appreciate.”
“I’ve been following the progress of powderDesk since the original prototype and I have to say, I’m quite impressed with the product and the team behind it. I love the ease of use and their staff really understands the complexities of ITSM.”