I agree 100% to this. I use analogy of Scout in Age of Empires game. Scout allows one to explore the terrain, mark areas of resources, enemies, their civilizati

I agree 100% to this. I use analogy of Scout in Age of Empires game. Scout allows one to explore the terrain, mark areas of resources, enemies, their civilization type and hence strengths/weaknesses. Similarly prototyping enables simultaneous exploration of problem space and solution space. After prototyping one can propose a design/architecture which is rooted in ground reality. You are more clear about upstream/downstream dependencies. Might even uncover gaps in product specs.