[drewsski]

If a prototype has to wait for engineering to bring it to life, then perhaps the tools being used for the prototype are the problem, or the staff that is charged with their usage. At my company, prototyping now falls entirely on the design and product team, with occasional consultation with engineering usually to inquire about the technical feasibility of a proposed feature.

The product team has the closest proximity to end users, so they are well placed to validate ideas. The AI tools help them iterate much faster, which also translates to keeping customer focus groups engaged.

The tools will definitely get better with time, but they are still an order of magnitude improvement compared to the Figma based prototypes from the early 2000s.