Minimum Viable Products Provide Metrics for Success
If you aren’t familiar with the term ‘Minimum Viable Product,’ here is a brief definition: A Minimum Viable Product or MVP is a version of a product that provides minimal features – just enough for customers to use and provide feedback on the product. That feedback is then incorporated into the final plan for the product, thereby allowing the creative team or software vendor to ensure user adoption and anticipate features and functionality the customers want now or may want in the future.
The term Minimum Viable Product was coined by Frank Robinson and brought into the mainstream by Eric Ries, the creator of the Lean Startup methodology. Ries explained that the MVP product approach allowed a development team to gather the maximum amount of proven customer knowledge with the least amount of effort.
The MVP process includes:
- Perform Market Research to Define Scope
- Requirements Documentation
- Define Metrics
- Establish Customer Feedback Plan
- Create a Product Roadmap
- Design and Develop MVP
- Launch MVP
- Incorporate Feedback Into Product Iteration(s)
- Refine Features for Final Design
There are many benefits to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach. In this article, we will focus on some of the primary advantages to give you a better idea of why the MVP process is crucial to software product success.
User Feedback – As business owners and industry leaders, we all think we know what our customers and end users need. The truth is that customer buying behavior, user expectations and technology advancements are changing more rapidly than our ability to adapt and keeping pace with the technology industry is a challenge we all face. When we are planning to launch a new software product, update an application or address what we believe is a market need, we must have a clear picture of what the users REALLY want. There is only one way to do that. You must involve the user in the process. You have a vision of the product, and so does the customer. By providing a minimum set of features and functionality and asking your users to provide feedback, you can avoid costly, time-consuming development and market missteps.
Market Fit – The MVP process includes a thorough assessment of your product vision and how it fits in the market. What products and features are available in the market today, how is the market changing, how is technology informing the market shift, and how quickly is the market adapting to those technology changes? Is price more important than features? What are the ‘must have’ features, tasks and functionality the market demands? While customers may feel that some features are unnecessary, the competitive market may already provide those features. If you do NOT provide comparable features, how will that affect your success? The MVP approach allows you to understand what customers are willing to accept and how their reaction will shift the market.
Investor Commitment – Start-up businesses and entrepreneurs must often look to investors to provide the capital they need to create a software product. Investors are notoriously shy about taking risk. By creating an MVP and allowing users to provide feedback, the business can give investors substantive proof of concept and user acceptance, thereby ensuring that they can create a product that will satisfy their own revenue requirements and offer a significant payback to investors.
Competitive Advantage – Metrics are important when approaching your management team. If you wish to create a software product, or significantly upgrade an existing product, you will need time and money. Executives and managers will want to know how this new product or upgraded product will help them to achieve a competitive advantage. By offering an MVP to users and customers, the business can build a body of feedback with testimonials, statements and reactions that come directly from customers and users. This approach will ensure that the executive team can make a confident decision and that the entry of the final product into the market will result in a competitive advantage.
Engage an expert Minimum Viable Product (MVP) consultant and ensure software product success. Explore the detailed explanation of MVP, its benefits, and the how and why of the Minimum Viable approach with this free article, ‘MVP Software Development: Everything You Need to Know.’
Original Post : Minimum Viable Products and Their Value!
