Although this book was published about ten years ago, I find that its ideas are more relevant than ever when it comes to design and innovation. Both Apple and Walt Disney Imagineering (as well as others) get it and know the importance of prototypes, models, and simulations. If you want to have meaningful interactions with others about your concepts or designs, you need to build them and not just talk about them. When I build prototypes, I'm creating possible futures. When I show them to others and we have conversations around them, it's a form of time travel; we are, in a way, exploring and examining artifacts from the future. What I like most about them is that they help to surface the unknown unknowns of a design concept. You can use simulations in the same way. They're all forms of play - serious play.

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