Media richness theory in agile development choosing appropriate kinds of prototypes to obtain reliable feedback

Abstract

When product development involves many uncertainties and changes are highly likely, agile approaches are valuable. They integrate customers into the development process frequently and explore what satisfies them best. For that, the development team builds working prototypes, demonstrates them and receives feedback being incorporated into the next iteration. The team collects validated learnings and reduces risks early. However, building physical prototypes frequently is difficult, expensive and time-consuming. We contribute to that field by adapting the Media Richness Theory from communication research for agile development. As a result, we present a guiding model how to choose an appropriate kind of prototype depending on the complexity of communication task. In doing so, we illustrate it's plausibility with an exemplary case from practice.