Alpha

Alpha is where you test the riskiest ideas cheaply. Instead of building the full service, you prototype, run experiments, and learn what deserves further investment — and what should be dropped.

At a glance

What good looks like

• Prototypes are rough enough to change quickly — polish is a signal you may be too late to learn.
• Testing focuses on the assumptions that would be most expensive to get wrong.
• Policy, operations, and technology explore options together rather than in sequence.
• The team can articulate what will not be in the first Beta release and why.

Common mistakes

• Building production-quality code before the direction is validated.
• Testing only with friendly internal users.
• Expanding scope to please stakeholders instead of narrowing to what users need first.
• Skipping accessibility and assisted digital thinking until Beta.

Service Standard points in focus

These points often receive particular attention during Alpha. See the full Service Standard guide.

• Point 1: Understand users and their needs
• Point 4: Make the service simple to use
• Point 5: Make sure everyone can use the service
• Point 7: Use agile ways of working
• Point 8: Iterate and improve frequently

Double Diamond mapping

Alpha spans both diamonds. Early Alpha often continues Define work — refining the problem frame. As prototyping accelerates, the team enters Develop (exploring solutions) and begins converging toward a direction that Beta will build out. Read the full mapping →

Related phases

• Discovery
• Beta