Give It Your Minimum
An excerpt from Chapter 5 of Conversational Design
A core concept of Lean UX is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). But I suggest stepping back even further. MVP still centers the system — it can be a fine technique for iterating on solutions — but only after spending more time with the design questions. Design by prototyping and testing is like answering a question before checking to see whether anyone had asked. MVP can be great for working within existing systems, but what if you want to solve a higher-order problem? What if you don’t even know if something is a product yet? It’s not about testing ideas, rather it’s about understanding the exchange of value. Step away from features to a higher level, the thought experiment before the experiment. Otherwise it’s easy to keep patching bad ideas with features.
I propose the Minimum Meaningful Conversation, a light-weight way to think outside the system and see the value you purport to offer from your customer’s perspective. Rather than think of the product as a series of screens in space, consider the moments in time.
Start from the customer’s intent, the questions they ask, the needs they express. How do you answer, and where do you answer? Too often this moment is left up to marketing. How you get in front of your customer at the moment they have a problem is a core part of the design. If you don’t figure that out, it doesn’t matter how good your proposed solution is.
Some key questions to ask:
- How will the customer express their need? How will you understand their intention?
- What exchange happens at that point?
- What does the customer have to give you in order for you to solve their problem?
- What choices do you give them?
- How do you close the conversation impressing the customer that you gave them something of value?
- How do you leave the door open to future interactions?
- To think through the value exchange in more detail, use the Minimum Viable Conversation Worksheet below
