#ProductValidation
Incorporate Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) in the Product Development Process to Improve the Probability of Launching Solutions that Meet Customers’ Needs and Succeed in the Marketplace
15 May 2023
Agile Workflows
Minimum viable products (MVPs)—coined by Frank Robinson in 2001, and subsequently popularized by Steve Blank and Eric Ries—can be advantageous tools for the development of products and services. This article is informed by Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions author Scott M. Graffius' first-hand experience with MVPs as well as research and coverage from the Harvard Business Review, IEEE, MIT Sloan Management Review, Product Development and Management Association, Product School, Project Management Institute, Scaled Agile, and others (all listed in the bibliography section of this article). This article was first published at https://scottgraffius.com with the title "Leverage the Power of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)."
Introduction
Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) can be game changers. They can be used by businesses to validate ideas, reduce time to market, and minimize risks associated with building fully featured products from the outset. This article provides those involved or interested in Agile, Lean, Product Management, Product Development, Project Management, and entrepreneurship with information on the significance of MVPs and how to leverage them.
Defining MVPs
First, it's paramount to understand what constitutes an MVP and why it matters. A Minimum Viable Product is a version of a product (or service) that incorporates just the essential features to address core customer needs and validate the viability of the concept. By employing an MVP, companies can gather valuable user feedback early on, allowing them to iterate, refine, and pivot their offering—if needed—based on market demand. This process saves time and resources, and it advances the chances of building a successful and customer-centric offering.
Here's a succinct definition of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP):
"The MVP has just those features considered sufficient for it to be of value to customers and allow for it to be shipped or sold to early adopters. Customer feedback will inform future development of the product." — Scott M. Graffius, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Next, examples of seven successful MVPs—Zappos, Spotify, Airbnb, Facebook, Amazon, Dropbox, and Groupon—will illustrate the power of MVPs.
MVP Success Stories
- Zappos: Zappos revolutionized the online shoe market by focusing on customer-centricity and rapid experimentation. Their MVP allowed them to validate their hypothesis, gather customer feedback, and iterate their offering to create a seamless and personalized shopping experience. Zappos is a prime example of the power of MVPs.
- Spotify: Global music streaming platform Spotify started as a simple streaming service MVP and they and continuously improved and expanded it based on customer feedback. By iterating their product, Spotify became a household name. Their MVP-driven approach ensured a product-market fit and helped them stay ahead in a competitive industry.
- Airbnb: Airbnb's success story speaks to the effectiveness of MVPs in validating an idea and subsequently scaling it to a global marketplace. Airbnb's founders started by testing their marketplace concept using an MVP strategy. By leveraging existing resources and validating demand through early adopters, they gained critical insights that shaped their platform's evolution. Today, Airbnb is a household name, offering unique accommodations worldwide.
- Facebook: Facebook's journey from a simple MVP to the world's largest social network demonstrates the power of incremental growth and user feedback. Mark Zuckerberg and fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes initially created a minimal profile-based social networking MVP (initially called "Thefacebook"), focusing on connecting people at Harvard. Through continuous iterations and the addition of features based on user needs and feedback, Facebook reshaped the social media landscape, connecting billions of people globally.
- Amazon: E-commerce giant Amazon is renowned for its relentless focus on customer experience. They started with an MVP approach, catering to customers' fundamental needs related to books, and subsequently expanded into new product categories incrementally. By prioritizing customer satisfaction, Amazon established itself as a trusted and innovative marketplace, continuously raising the bar for online shopping.
- Dropbox: Dropbox, a prominent player in the cloud storage market, kick-started its journey with a basic file-syncing MVP. By offering a simple yet essential solution to the problem of file synchronization across devices, Dropbox gained traction and valuable user insights. They leveraged this feedback to iterate and improve their product, eventually becoming a leader in the highly competitive cloud storage industry.
- Groupon: Popular online deals platform Groupon employed an MVP approach by testing deal offerings on a WordPress blog. That allowed them to validate market interest and adjust their strategy based on customer responses. By embracing the importance of market validation and adaptability, Groupon transformed into a global leader, providing users with discounted offers across various categories.
Key Principles and Best Practices for MVPs
Building a successful MVP requires adhering to key principles and best practices. It involves thoughtfully determining the relatively few features and limited scope to address core customer needs. Collecting and analyzing user feedback plays a pivotal role in making informed decisions and prioritizing enhancements. By embracing an iterative mindset and focusing on the most valuable aspects of the product, businesses can create an MVP that resonates with their target audience.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Challenges with MVPs
While MVPs offer significant advantages, they are not without challenges. Over-engineering the product, prematurely scaling, and failing to validate crucial assumptions are common pitfalls that can hinder success. It’s vital to strike a balance between building a viable product and avoiding unnecessary complexity. By remaining adaptable and open to change, businesses can navigate these challenges and increase the chances of achieving their goals.
Validating and Iterating via Lean and Agile Approaches
The MVP is particularly well-suited for Lean and Agile approaches and environments. Lean principles emphasize continuous learning, eliminating waste, and rapid experimentation. Agile (such as Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe) involve iterative development, frequent feedback loops, and continuous improvement. Utilizing Lean/Agile can help maximize the value of MVPs and increase chances of success.
Beyond the MVP
Once an MVP proves its viability, the focus shifts to scaling and launching the product. This stage requires a broad and deep understanding of the target market, competition, and customer preferences. It involves adapting the product based on user feedback, exploring different marketing strategies, and leveraging data-driven insights. Staying agile, continuously learning, and adapting to market dynamics are crucial for sustained growth and long-term success.
Conclusion
MVPs are powerful tools for innovation and the successful development of products/services. The examples of Zappos, Spotify, Airbnb, Facebook, Amazon, Dropbox, and Groupon highlight the transformative impact of MVPs across diverse industries. By embracing the core principles, avoiding common pitfalls, and leveraging Lean and Agile approaches, businesses can unlock the full potential of their MVPs and pave the way for sustained growth, customer satisfaction, and market leadership with their offerings. Which makes MVPs game changers.
Bibliography
- Airbnb (n.d.). About Airbnb. Available at: https://news.airbnb.com/about-us.
- Blank, Steve (2020). The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
- Cagan, Marty (2012, March 7). Viable Product vs. Minimal Product. Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG). Available at: https://www.svpg.com/viable-product-vs-minimal-product.
- CB Insights (2021, August 3). The Top 12 Reasons Startups Fail. CB Insights Research. Available at: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/startup-failure-reasons-top.
- Davenport, Thomas H., & Seseri, Rudina (2020, December 15). What is a Minimum Viable AI Product? MIT Sloan Management Review. Available at: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/what-is-a-minimum-viable-ai-product.
- Dropbox (n.d.). About the Company. Available at: https://www.dropbox.com/about.
- Furr, Nathan, & Dyer, Jeff (2014). The Innovator's Method: Bringing the Lean Start-up into Your Organization. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press.
- Graffius, Scott M. (2016). Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.
- Graffius, Scott M. (2018, October 4). Agile Scrum Helps Innovators, Disruptors, and Entrepreneurs Develop and Deliver Products at Astounding Speed Which Drives Competitive Advantage [Presentation]. Talk delivered to an audience of startups and others in the entrepreneurial community at the Techstars Startup Week Conference at The Box Theater, Riverside, California, United States. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.25009.12647. DOI link: https://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.25009.12647.
- Graffius, Scott M. (2021, February 27). Are You Realizing All the Benefits from Agile? [Presentation]. Talk delivered to an audience involved or interested in Technology at the Scottish Summit 2021 Technology Conference based from Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.13140/RG.2.2.17273.90728. DOI link: https://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.17273.90728.
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- Lenarduzzi, Valentina, & Taibi, Davide (2016, August). MVP Explained: A Systematic Mapping Study on the Definitions of Minimal Viable Product. Proceedings from the 2016 42nd Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA): 112–119.
- Merryweather, Ellen (2023, January 9). Product-Led Growth Strategy for Product Managers. Product School. Available at: https://productschool.com/blog/product-strategy/product-led-growth-strategy.
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- Umbreen, J., Mirza, Muhammad Z., Ahmad, Yasir, & Naseem, Afshan. (2022, December). Assessing the Role of Minimum Viable Products in Digital Startups. Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM): 1073-1077.
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About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, SA, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi-award-winning author, and international keynote speaker. He is the Founder of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. He has generated over $1.9 billion of business value in aggregate for Global Fortune 500 businesses and other organizations he has served. Graffius and content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), talks, workshops, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, Qantas, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Tufts University, and others. He has delighted audiences with dynamic and engaging talks and workshops on agile, project management, and technology leadership at 86 conferences and other events across 25 countries. Visit https://ScottGraffius.com to learn more.
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