Prototype Conversations

Designers do not build the finished product first; they build cheap prototypes that answer questions early. Burnett and Evans bring the same habit to careers. Before you retrain, resign or relocate, find someone who is already doing the thing and ask for their story: how they got there, what an ordinary week looks like, what surprised them, and what they would tell someone in your position. The book calls these life design interviews, and they are the lightest form of prototyping; the next step up is a prototype experience, such as shadowing someone for a day or taking on a small project in the field. Two rules make the conversations work. First, you are asking for a story, not a job, which keeps the request small and the other person at ease; offers sometimes follow, but they are a side effect. Second, you arrive with specific questions drawn from your odyssey plans, so each talk tests something. Prototype conversations work because they replace an imagined future, usually either glamorous or frightening, with the ordinary details of someone's real working week. They also start building the network a later move will need.