Start with MVP
What is the Minimum Viable Product strategy and why you should use it for your next project?
You found this blog, so you probably know that the acronym MVP means Minimum Viable Product (or you saw it in subtitle) and that it is not related to basketball or any other sport. But don’t worry if you didn’t. Everything will be clearer if you continue reading.
Bright future…
By MVP, we mean a product that has just enough core functionalities to make it releasable to customers. Usually, these early adopters provide feedback (actively or passively) for further product development.
The idea behind MVP is very simple. Small (or smaller) products mean faster development. Faster development means a quicker idea evaluation. Quicker idea evaluation means cost savings and the possibility of changing directions. For product owners, this is an ideal situation:
- If the product became a success, you would get income from users or advantage in investor talks earlier.
- If nobody notices your product, you will know that early on and will be able to make direction changes faster.
…and sad reality
The real problem is that many product owners don’t understand the idea of MVP. They see the shiny Instagram application or Twitter webpage, and they want a product on that level on the complexity from the beginning. They forget that both products get their current form after many years of iterations and improvements. Did Twitter provide an option to record video from its inception? No, in fact, there was no option to add images neither. What you had was the option to log in and send a short text update. Did Instagram offer the ability to post Stories from day zero? No, all you had then was the main feed of photos and 12 filters (sorry, no hashtag support or searching).
Change starts with you
It doesn’t matter that you are a product owner, designer or developer. It also doesn’t matter that you are a freelancer, software house or in-house employee. Quick product evaluation should be a priority for everyone. If one part of that development cycle doesn’t understand this idea, others should help them. Software developers, I’m looking at you and your attitude to do everything the client wants. Current agile methods of product development aim to speed up feedback gain during development. And what is a better way of gaining feedback than handing the application to real users?
Where to start?
Do you have a product idea? Write down the main selling point of your application. Then list features that you will need to make this idea work (and only them). Think about every feature you are adding. Maybe for the first version, you don’t need an automatic payment system, and withdrawals can be made by hand? Do you really need profile edition features? Consider using social media profile (for example, Twitter or Facebook) in your application. And going further. Are login and registration needed at all? You may lose a bunch of users that want to use your application but don’t want to sign up and create an account. Will your application/website display charts with users monthly income data? What do you want to display at the beginning when you don’t have users or data at all?
I hope you get the idea. Every feature you consider in your product should be evaluated at the beginning. It will save you some money during design work and a lot of money during development. There is a truth in this old programmer joke:
The best code is no code at all
Where does it end?
Your journey with MVP will never end. Let’s say you have already published the first, minimal version of your application. Should you now just add back all those things that I asked you to remove at the begging? No, of course not! Now the real fun begins. Take a look at what your users are using the most. Add some analytics events and check where most of the new users drop off. Gather data, improve your application, pick new features, and start a new iteration. And please remember: in software development like in minimalism:
Less is more
I’m here to help
I’ve created this blog to share my experiences and teach others about the best methods for quicker product evaluation. I plan to create a new post every month or two. I know that this is a long time in the modern era of information overflow. You will forget about this blog until this time. So, I encourage you to follow this publication, so you know when a new article is posted.
Join the Corps
On this blog, I want to present other people’s view on MVP and quick product/idea evaluation as well. If you have successfully created and published MVP, have a software that allows creating products quicker, or you just want to share your thoughts on the concept, please contact me. I’d be happy to host a guest article or an interview.
