What you learn through innovation prototyping is to become an expert at the problem you aim to solve. You acquire that expertise by prototyping every facet of the problem—yes, prototyping the problem, not the solution—all the way down to the organization that will make the problem go away.
Innovations in this process are described in terms of the problems. An innovation is the result.
You learn to innovate by innovating. You’re allowed to use your intuition, engage in trial and error, and be productively wrong. The process does not start with an idea for an innovation. It begins with something that is closer to you, something you cannot explain, something that needs fixing, or even a pet peeve. That is the problem that gives you purpose. Your job is then to make the problem tangible. You do that by questioning the problem continually. The parts and people you gather through that inquiry will refine the specific problem.
From the book, Innovating: A Doer’s Manifesto for Starting from a Hunch, Prototyping Problems, Scaling Up, and Learning to Be Productively Wrong by Luis Perez-Breva