What is the use of a Minimum Viable Product (illustration)
Let’s face the truth – creating a mobile application or a website from scratch is rather risky. If you are building an application, no matter mobile or web, to make profit out of it, then your first objective is to find out what consumers are willing to pay for. You never know whether your product will satisfy your customers and meet your business needs. The best way to know is to let your product flow freely as soon as possible. Early launch of the product requires the set of functions and features that solve the problem well enough that someone is ready to use it. This is known as MVP.
First step of creating MVP is to define must-have features of your product that will bring value of it. In order to sort out core functionality you need to specify:
✔Product target audience. Do not develop a product to please the mainstream audience – if they don’t like the product, you will get the wrong feedback. Find the target group, instead, with a specific problem and offer them the early version.
✔The problem, which your product solves. It is unacceptable to develop solutions without defining the problem it solves. Knowing the problem you are trying to solve with the use of an app is the crucial stage of MVP development.
The proper market research helps to decide what features and design elements to include in the initial release. For example, creating a messaging app the core functionality is obvious – chatting. So it has to be implemented in the MVP. Further features, like files exchange or profile editing can be implemented later. However, if you want your product to emphasis on the rapid files exchange, it should be present in MVP.
There are numerous of prioritization techniques to help you identify features of a stand-alone product, which will solve the core problem of intended users. One of them, for instance, is MoSCoW method. The essence of the method consists in dividing all features your app is meant to have, no matter large or small, into four groups: Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, Would like but Won’t get. That turn on your critical thinking and think what is really a “must have” versus a “want”.
When the core functionality required for MVP development is determined, it’s time to think about the design of your app or website. The widely head opinion that design isn’t important in MVP is wrong. MVP has to have great design. From early stages attractive appearance is the key to win user's’ attention and love. Disregarding unique and catching designs may leave your product unnoticed by users.
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