Minimum Viable Product in Software Development

Many successful minimum viable products (MVPs), such as Airbnb and Dropbox, launched with core features but later became essential tools for everyday corporate operations. 

Focusing on core features can minimize the risk, conserve resources, and allow you the time to gather essential feedback for a more refined product. Let’s explore what MVP is, the Purpose of a Minimum Viable Product, and the software development of a Minimum viable product with its examples.

What is Minimum Viable Product?

An MVP is a basic version of a product that has all the core functionalities. In software and similar industries, an MVP enables the product team to gather user feedback swiftly, allowing them to refine and enhance the product.  

Since agile methodology emphasizes validating and improving products through user input, the MVP is a cornerstone of agile development.

What is the Purpose of Minimum Viable Product

The concept of MVP was first launched by Eric Ries. A company may opt to create and launch a minimum viable product (MVP) to:

• Bring a product to market quickly.
• Test an idea with real users before investing heavily in full-scale development.
• Understand what appeals to the target audience and what doesn’t.

Beyond validating a product idea without developing it entirely, an MVP also helps reduce the time and resources that could otherwise be spent on building a product that may not succeed.

5 Steps to define the Core Features of your MVP

Following are the five major steps to define the core benefits of your MVP.

Understand the Target Audience

Understanding the target audience is very important when it comes to developing your MVP. Also, there’s a famous saying that if you are going to please everyone, you will end up pleasing no one and that is true.  You have to select a group of people who are facing a problem and then solve that problem only. Successful MVPs are the one that solves only one problem.

You can get to know about your audience with the help of surveys and interviews, this way, you’ll have a clear idea about what your audience is looking for in your product or service. You can also do a competitor analysis, and see what the other players in the market are doing. After doing all this, you’ll have a better understanding of your audience and the problems, they are facing. 

Once you are done with all these, create a user persona that represents your target users. Each persona should provide detailed demographic information of your user.

Establish Your MVP Goals

Set your objectives and MVP is the first step towards a deliverable product. However, the progress will have multiple steps, and setting clear objectives is also a part. Your objective will reflect directly on your MVP. Now, set key performance indicators (KPIs) before launching the MVP, this will help you take the right action after getting the results

Give Priority to Fundamental Features

When building an MVP, restraint is key. Focus on a single essential feature to achieve a narrow goal, like Uber’s MVP, which started with a simple cab booking feature for limited users in San Francisco. 

To keep your MVP lean, use the MoSCoW framework to categorize features: Must-haves (core functionalities like logging in or the app’s primary purpose), Should-haves (enhancements that improve usability, such as profile settings), Could-haves (non-essential features like advanced analytics), and Won’t-haves (features deliberately excluded to prevent bloat). 

This approach helps streamline development and avoid scope creep. Additionally, prioritizing user flow simplicity ensures a seamless experience. Intuitive navigation and clear onboarding should take precedence over complex UI elements, making the MVP user-friendly while delivering immediate value.

Avoiding Feature Bloat and Prioritizing a Lean MVP

To prevent feature creep in an MVP, focus only on essential functionalities that serve the core purpose, as excessive features can complicate the user experience and delay the time to market. Using the MoSCoW framework helps teams distinguish between must-have and non-essential features, ensuring a streamlined approach.

A lean feature set prioritizes simplicity, allowing room for future enhancements once the MVP gains traction. To refine the feature list, assess whether each feature directly addresses the primary problem, remove low-value features based on user feedback, and collaborate with developers to balance feasibility with resource constraints.

Incorporating Early Testing and Continuous Feedback in MVP Development  

Building an MVP is just one step in an ongoing iterative process, and early testing should begin even before development. Tools like clickable prototypes, wireframes, demos, and user interviews, can provide valuable insights to refine the MVP concept. Gathering user feedback early on helps validate feature choices, prioritizing the most valuable functionalities. 

However, feedback is only useful if acted-upon features should be adapted, added, or removed as necessary to align with user needs. Establishing a continuous feedback loop throughout the MVP lifecycle allows for ongoing improvements, ensuring the product remains relevant as user expectations and market trends evolve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is MVP lean or agile?

The concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in the Lean Startup methodology emphasizes the importance of learning during the development of a new product.

Is MVP part of Scrum?

The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a fundamental aspect of Agile methodology, particularly in Scrum. It refers to a product with only essential features to meet the needs of early users.

Conclusion

Defining core features involves a structured approach: identifying the target audience, establishing clear objectives, prioritizing essential functionalities, preventing feature overload, and validating choices through feedback.

By following this process, startups can pinpoint the most critical features while eliminating those unnecessary for the MVP stage. Your MVP needs to be simple and effective, once your MVP is out among the users, you can then add new features after doing the initial testing and taking feedback.