For digital leaders at many nonprofits, government institutions and brands, the idea of building a prototype and testing it with users can be both exciting and daunting.

On the one hand, getting feedback on an early prototype sounds like a great way to learn if your product ideas will actually deliver value to your audiences. On the other, this way of working can conflict with the operational culture of more traditional organizations, which tend to only reveal finished, polished products. While the appetite for lean methodologies like prototyping has obviously grown beyond startups working in Silicon Valley, selling them internally remains a challenge.

The sell can be more difficult still when the product needs to launch by a certain date. How do you simultaneously build a prototype and test it with users, which will likely uncover problems that need to be fixed, while making progress toward launch? Will prototyping cause delays in shipping?

Prototype of Growing Up NYC built in Marvel. Visual design by Hope Chu.

We recently faced these challenges on our work on Growing Up NYC, a platform that helps parents and families find programs, resources, and activities for kids. While the approach we developed was specific to this project, the following tips apply to instances where you’re looking to validate an MVP through prototype testing and still launch on time.

1) Share a lean mindset.

At the start of our work on Growing Up NYC, we knew our clients from the Mayor’s Office wanted to put prototypes in front of users, given the City’s requirement to involve New Yorkers in the development of new digital products and services. However, because iterating based on what you learn could in theory go on forever, it was key for us all to align on the notion of designing and building an MVP — a first product release that would deliver value to our NYC audiences, while not containing every single feature we dreamed up. We had a shared mindset that guided us through the project: We would test and iterate, but also ship by a firm date, prioritizing based on what we learned and not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.