[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_29":-5,"_39":-5,"_40":41,"_42":43,"_44":45,"_46":47,"_48":49,"_50":51,"_52":53,"_54":55,"_56":57,"_58":59},"routes/_store+/_readers+/email_author.$slug/route",{"_9":10,"_11":-5,"_12":-5},"book",{"_13":14,"_15":16,"_17":18,"_19":20,"_21":22,"_23":24},"currentUser","formToken","id","Z2lkOi8vbGVhbnB1Yi9TdG9yZTo6Qm9va1Byb2R1Y3QvODQyODU","title","Prototyping is DEAD","state","published","contactAuthorMethod","email","aboutText","

Prototyping is DEAD is about what happens when AI changes the economics of software development.

AI turns the entire rationale behind the traditional Software Development Lifecycle upside down. We're not aiming at \"cheaper development,\" or \"faster delivery\" in the existing process.
We're not selling AI as some form of black magic that makes professional development disappear: We're targeting all of the stuff that was only necessary because building software was the most expensive and risky part.
And that's only possible if we challenge the how and why behind every activity in traditional development.
We're talking systemic leverage - not token economics versus hourly rates.

For decades, building was the most expensive activity. So organizations optimized everything that happened before Build: feasibility study, scoping, discovery workshops, solution analysis, architecture, estimation, budgets and approvals. The goal was to remove as much uncertainty as possible before scarce engineering capacity was consumed - to avoid the waste of building the wrong thing.

AI breaks that logic.
What if building software is faster than getting a budget?
What if tests are conclusive before there's a requirement?
What if users could tell you where the solution is wrong when nobody knows what is right?

When it becomes cheaper to build something executable enough to discover that you are wrong than to spend weeks discussing the theory, the sensible starting point changes. Plan → Build → Run becomes Build → Run → Plan.

That is the idea behind DEAD Prototypes: Describe. Execute. Attack. Discover.

A DEAD Prototype is not an early product. It is a cheap executable interpretation of what you currently think is true. You build it so people can attack it, expose bad assumptions, reveal missing knowledge, discover category errors and kill stupid solutions before they become projects.

The book draws from enterprise software, consulting, product development and the strategy game Heroes of Legends. Along the way it looks at overloaded Sales teams, broken support processes, hidden factories, key-person bottlenecks, useless-but-functional software, AI coding, and why organizations often polish details while ignoring the fact that they are solving the wrong problem.

The point is not to introduce more AI.

It's to stop wasting expensive human attention on ideas that should have died cheaply.

","authors",[25],{"_13":26,"_27":28,"_29":30},"Z2lkOi8vbGVhbnB1Yi9TdG9yZTo6UHJvZHVjdEF1dGhvci84OTk0OA","name","Michael Küsters","user",{"_31":32},"avatar",{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38},"url","https://d39qdlcrvnra4b.cloudfront.net/avatars/832168/medium/mk_foto_big.jpg?1586180802","styleName","medium","exists",true,"shoppingCartId","shoppingCart",{"_13":72,"_73":74,"_75":38,"_76":77,"_78":79,"_80":81,"_82":38},"locale","en","readerTheme","light","constants",{"_70":71},"publishers",{"_66":67,"_68":69},"learnerOrganizations",[],"needsLocaleCookieSync",false,"announcements",{"_60":61,"_62":-5},"sentryEnvironment","production","sentryRelease","f72692f2e45c0c62e1437375dedddcf2717e20cd","announcement_store",{"_63":53,"_64":65},"announcement_authors","flag","text","

Kick off your book project, get started with GhostAI, get better at marketing, or spend the day doing all three! Free live workshops on Zoom. Saturday, June 27, 2026.

\n","companies",[],"universities",[],"paypalClientId","AX53Cwz8jR6rVVzzZiZNWWXl0dGagi-GZrjG-S3Ua14E5nrKMn7DxDQ730O4R8LusLPp49ALn6aRVaEy","no-cart","count",0,"free","updatedAt","","paymentGateway","STRIPE","cartItems",[],"loading"]

Email the Author