We were lucky to have Gordon Burnett taking us through prototyping at the right fidelity at SydDT #125 last week. His core theme was about finding the “just right” fidelity.
As he said… prototyping is not just about making something, it’s about answering the right questions at the right time…
- Low-fidelity: “Do we need this?”
- Mid-midelity: “How should it work?”
- High-fidelity: “How will it work and how will we build it?”
Gordon is Design Lead – Health Prototyping at eHealth NSW, so he was able to share why prototyping really matters in complex and safety-critical environments. Inclusive design and accessibility are non‑negotiable core practices – as it really needs to be for all of us.
They use prototyping for almost everything: workspace layouts, clinical workflows, policies, digital systems, paper artefacts, equipment, devices, and even kitchens and pathology labs.
Prototyping is a learning strategy, not a deliverable – low, medium, and high fidelities each answer different questions, and skipping steps (especially by jumping straight into AI) risks missing critical insights.
There was so much gold in what Gordon shared… from mindset and approach through to practical methods. Designing and building something, worth hearing from him directly.
Thanks to everyone who came along and made it such a fun night. Couldn’t make it or just want to relive it? Watch it now.
Thanks to Ibrahim Iftikhar who did the awesome graphic recording this month. This initiative is a collaboration with Shapeshifters and their Think Visual! meetup community. SydDT is a friendly environment for people to practice their live graphic recording skills.
A massive thanks to Sasha Pometko and Frankie Balfour from Atlassian, Alan Chen and Diana Ayoub from Shapeshifters, and Dynamic4 for making it all happen. And Lucas Mara for being the lead organiser for this one.
Our next meetup is SydDT #126: Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Tuesday, 19 May… brought to you by Remarkable Disability Tech Accelerator, Atlassian, and Dynamic4. Grab your ticket!
Meetup Announcement
Thursday, 9 April 2026 @ 6pm. Atlassian, Sydney
For our April SydDT event, we’re lucky to have Gordon Burnett taking us through prototyping at the right fidelity – and why it matters more than most people think.
We all prototype… but how often do we stop and ask whether we’re prototyping at the right level of detail for the stage we’re at? Too polished too early can lock in assumptions. Too rough too late can undermine confidence.
Getting the fidelity right – at the right moment – is what turns prototyping from a checkbox into a genuine decision-making tool.
Gordon will share a range of methods and real-world case studies – from simple sketches and quick experiments to 3D printing and AI-assisted prototype development – showing how to move from assumption to evidence at every stage of the process.
Come join us for some fun conversations with interesting people in and around the design thinking community. New members are welcome!
Speaker
Gordon Burnett
Design Lead – Health Prototyping, eHealth NSW
Gordon has worked in a wide range of design roles over 20 years. Starting in print design, he’s navigated the early years of the internet, app design, smart speakers, mixed reality, and a range of other interfaces.
Rapid prototyping is the one thing that connected all this work – being able to rapidly answer questions and make decisions, including whether to kill an idea or not.
Recently, Gordon was the Design Lead at NSW Health’s first Health Prototyping Centre, leading work optimising workflows, designing more efficient workspaces, and leading evaluations of new technologies.
Event Sponsors
This event is brought to you by Atlassian, Sh8peshifters, and Dynamic4.
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