Understanding Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in Health (3 of 5)

Published in

modelH Blog

7 min readAug 21, 2024

As we have spent the last two posts talking about the concept of a healthcare Value Proposition and how it can drive a business to success, it is important that we also address how to build one once you think you have the right idea. We will learn how to apply Minimum Viable Product, or MVP, techniques to do this.

Today, I aim to inspire and motivate you by exploring the transformative potential of MVP in revolutionizing healthcare product development and business strategies.

Learn how to use a minimum viable product (MVP) approach to build out the products that make up your value proposition.

It is important to pre-read our earlier posts here:

What is Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

A minimum viable product is that version of a new product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort. — Source: Eric Ries, The Lean StartUp

MVP, as a business methodology, enables product builders to determine whether there is a demand for their creation. It does so in a way that conserves both time and capital. This technique allows builders to validate assumptions about their product in two crucial aspects: its value and the demand for it. By definition, MVP is the product version that gets built through one cycle of a build, measure, learn loop — as fast as possible. Once the MVP is confirmed (it may take a few iterations), other Lean Methodologies, which are a set of principles and practices for achieving quality, speed, and customer alignment in product development, can be employed to build upon it. It’s important to note that this is not a one-time process but an ongoing, iterative journey. Your role as a healthcare professional is crucial in this process, as your feedback and insights will shape the future iterations of the product. In my opinion, you should not use MVP as a start if you are not committed to proceeding with other lean methodologies afterward that allow for a continued iterative process — lest you lose the “value” in your product.

MVP produces three things and builds on them: value, use, and speed. Let us take a deeper look at each of these.

MVP — Defining Minimum

Speed is a critical factor in MVP. It’s about taking your minimum product to market quickly and cheaply. By only building what is deemed most valuable in order of priority to the customer and progressing through iterative builds, you ensure speed to market and successful releases. When you are wrong, you fail fast (and cheap). MVP assumes iteration until you find the ideal solution. Start small and add on based on customer needs.

Prioritize “selling the vision” before you start building it. This means you only need the minimum features demonstrating the value exchange with the customer. These features also enable an information feedback loop, essential for making successive improvements to the product design.

For a company, this means producing fewer moving parts in your product (easier to use), requiring fewer cases for error handling (smaller support staff), and writing the least amount of code (fewer developers for a shorter time).

As it grows, your MVP will have some incomplete or manual parts. Because your MVP may be perceived as unfinished or buggy, it is wise to ensure that your customer service is superb. Ideal customers will forgive, but only so far and for so much.

Once you have established the minimum, the key is to iterate as fast as possible. This process involves using the feedback collected from customers and users, which is crucial in refining and improving your product.

MVP — Defining Viable

Viable means that the product needs to be meaningful to consumers and create a real value exchange. This notion requires a deep understanding of the consumer’s perspective, ensuring they understand the product and can fit it into their normal flow. Viable means the product gets used. If it’s not viable, it won’t get used.

One or the other does not cut it. If they get it but cannot use it normally, they simply will not do so. If they can use it but need help understanding the value it creates for them, it will quickly become a throwaway app.

Make your product Usable, and it will get used. MVP asks that you focus on delivering a simple yet effective product experience — not on large feature sets. Usability, in this context, refers to the ease with which a user can interact with your product. The real test is the usage of the product in the manner you anticipated, not necessarily its first pass at usability. Although you cannot get usage without usability, be careful not to forsake usability for speed and minimum moving parts. Form and function must appear simultaneously — with a minimum function allowing for a more straightforward form. Usability is a key aspect of MVP, as it ensures that the product is not only valuable and usable but also easy and enjoyable to use, which can significantly impact user adoption and satisfaction.

Not all customers perceive value the same way or use a product similarly. As such, designing and testing on an ideal customer set is wise. Suppose your “super users” buy into the product entirely. In that case, you can modify the experience for other user bases as you understand their variations in needs, wants, attitudes, and behaviors.

Furthermore, your ideal customer set is more forgiving of your early attempts, and if they buy into the big vision of what you are trying to achieve, they will help you get there. Early adopters should be a small subset of your total customer base who will most likely be raving fans.

MVP — Defining Product

Like all lean methodologies, MVP asks designers to forestall “solving the problem” instead of focusing on thinking and validating the business hypotheses.

Value is a crucial aspect of MVP. It’s about understanding if your product is valued. MVP asks that you make an assumption about the value exchange, which is the perceived benefits a customer receives in exchange for the cost of your product, and test it through iteration until it validates or drops. Value is defined through the lens of the customer — not what you want for the customer. If no value is confirmed, no product should be created.

Eric Reis outlines this as four questions:

Do consumers recognize they have the problem we are trying to solve?
If there was a solution, would consumers buy it?
If there was a solution, would consumers buy it from us?
Can we realistically build a solution for that problem?

As much as possible, your product should focus on the minimum/viable design to answer these four questions.

In Summary

Employing these MVP techniques can help you effectively meet the demands placed on modern healthcare businesses. MVP is the best first step in an ongoing cycle of iterative releases that allows you to learn and correct your Value Proposition. MVP is not just about the end result but the journey of learning and discovery, which should keep you engaged and interested in the process.

MVP means testing your hypothesis, no matter where it leads, and being willing to modify your viewpoint to match the customer’s needs. MVP’s flexibility should make your business more adaptable. Knowing that you can constantly adjust to the market makes you more flexible and open to change in your business decisions.

MVP means failing fast and often. It means you will hear what you did not expect or even want to, and you must respond with the changes being requested. MVP means it may lead to abandoning the idea altogether — failing fast once. This process fosters resilience, making you more prepared for challenges and changes.

MVP is a process of constant iteration driven by validated customer learning. Success is constantly redefined as consumers continue to test features and demonstrate if they are willing to pay for them.

Let’s put the MVP concept into action in five steps.

Base your product’s pre-design on the minimum feature set needed to prove your Value Proposition hypothesis based on your ideal customer set. Use tools like Uizard to turn product ideas into wireframes and prototypes with GenAI.
Supplement the minimum feature set with a detailed definition of the value chain that delivers this hypothesized value and see if it passes the smell test with Buyers.
Design your product, allowing for one cycle through the Build, Measure, and Learn loop (Principle of least effort).
Launch to your ideal customer set and solicit feedback.
Lather, rinse, and repeat this process until you have created a value exchange.

Add relevant features to extend value incrementally. For the post-MVP builds (after you have confirmed the value exchange), use LeanUX to design more features into your experience, more experiences for other users, and agile for the code. Have a deliberate release schedule for a known set of user experiences. Test the feedback you gain at each interval, confirming that you have not “lost” your MVP and are building towards and increasing value exchange. Add the feedback to your feature plan and re-prioritize as necessary. Undo your new mistakes by communicating to your customers what you heard and how you answered that feedback. Note that you are not increasing the value exchange if you are not receiving new data.

What is Next?

Next, we will examine how to pivot from an initial idea for your value proposition. Why pivot, you ask? Stay tuned to find out more.

Are you interested in what I am doing and want to learn more? You can read all about modelH business model innovation for healthcare on Medium.

to your health,

- Kevin Riley