A Low Fidelity Artifact is a fancy word for something that is often no more than a scribbled doodle. A Low Fidelity Artifact is an inexpensive way to capture ideas and develop a shared understanding without generating a cumbersome design document that the team is unwilling to change.

Low Fidelity Artifacts belong on the wall where they can be referred to frequently. This fosters a shared understanding throughout the team members and with passers by.

Newsprint can be bought cheaply from the Durango Herald, diagrammed on and then hung on the wall with painter’s tape. Excellent Candidates for low fidelity artifacts are:

  • User Flows / Page Maps
  • User Roles & Rewards
  • User Personae
  • Top level System Diagrams

A Lean business canvass is an example of a low fidelity business plan. We love the Lean business Canvass because it is quick to create and change. Also as a one page business plan there is nowhere for a weak or bad idea to hide.

The key to success is to try many iterations of your idea, rapidly capture ideas, build a product and test its market worthiness. If you can execute rapidly on these steps it dramatically increases your chances of creating a profitable, sustainable business before the money runs out.

Practitioner’s Tip: Use a Sharpie pen so that everyone can read the text even when you have a group of 5 people discussing the artifact.