From A to Z: How to Create the MVP in Agile Projects

In a trial-and-error world, this is the main way to solve problems. It involves making multiple, different attempts until the problem is solved, or the person stops trying. In a trial-and-error approach, the one who can find errors faster is the king.?

Most people call this approach “fail fast.” Eric Ries called it a lean approach, while Kent Beck called it agile.?

Whatever you call it, the point is to find out which of your assumptions regarding the product are wrong by getting feedback from real users as quickly as possible.

The agile methodology assumes that product development is divided into sprints, which allows for risk reduction and rapid response to required changes.

Because agile development is based on a process that changes based on customer feedback, the MVP is one of the most important parts of the process.

Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) helps deliver a new product with sufficient features to satisfy early adopters, which allows getting valuable feedback, and building a complete set of features later on.

Most of the time, the MVP concept is used in the software industry to see if a product will work or not.

What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and why do we use Agile?

The majority of today's software is developed using the Agile Approach. In the Agile environment, you'll often hear the phrase “minimum viable product” (MVP).

According to Wikipedia

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers, who can then provide feedback for future product development.

The term MVP simply means: “anything with just enough functionality to prove to investors that your market and product are viable.”

To put it another way, what is the most basic version of your product that still serves its primary purpose and helps clients achieve their goals and objectives?

For example, let's say you went back in time and were working on the first version of an app for a newspaper. The core function of an app would be to inform its audience. That is why the easiest product you could build would be a list of news headlines and a button to refresh.

Again, the key to a successful MVP is focusing on the core value that the app provides, which is fresh news, rather than spending your time building additional features of the app.

Keep in mind that MVP doesn't necessarily mean a poor product. In reality, it only needs to be good at a few basic features to be truly useful.

Here are some characteristics of MVP:

• It has a value enough that people are willing to use it or purchase it.
• It offers sufficient promise of future advantages to keep early adopters interested.
• A feedback loop is created, which can be used to direct growth in the future.

Why is it recommended to employ an agile approach?

The use of minimum viable products (MVPs) is a key differentiator between Agile and other approaches and methodologies. The idea behind agile development is to start with a minimally viable product and the simplest features, then learn from customer feedback, and iterate from there.

Rather than wasting time on features that won't be used, you can focus on those that will, allow you to get more done in less time.

We can compare this method to those that don't focus on the MVP of a product.?

If you take the traditional approach, you might spend a lot of time trying to create the "perfect" product with every feature you can think of, only to find out that, once it's on the market, customers aren't actually using half of them.

Steps to Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Now, once you know what is an MVP, why it is used in Agile, and what are the benefits of it, let's have a look at the 6 steps required for building an MVP.

Now, once you know what is Minimum Viable Product, why it is used in agile projects, and what are the benefits of MVP.

Let's have a look at the full six steps needed in order to build an effective Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

1. Identifying The Problem
2. Analyzing The Competitors
3. Defining User Stories, Wireframes & Designs
4. Analyzing The Project Features
5. Development and Testing
6. Product go-to-market (fit or fail)

Step #1: Identifying The Problem

Most people are not rigorous enough when creating a new product version in defining the problems they are trying to solve and explaining why they are important. Potential opportunities and wasted resources could be lost if this step is skipped. That's why you need to hone your questioning skills so that your solutions actually address the issues at hand.

Analyze your product concept and determine who you intend to sell it to. Why does your niche need this product, exactly? as well as what context they'd employ it in if they did.

Step #2: Analyzing The Competitors

The next step, after identifying the problem you are addressing, is to research how competing businesses are handling the same problem. Given this, it's clear that if there are other products on the market that are similar to yours, you need to investigate them.

Keep in mind that if you believe in the uniqueness of your product, you will have the confidence to bring it to market even if you don't think you have any direct competitors.

Step #3: Defining User Stories, Wireframes, and Designs

In order to define the user flow for your future product, you must zero in on that goal. Defining the process stages is a simple first step toward defining the main user flow, as all you need to do is describe the actions users must take to accomplish the product's primary objective.

Don't worry about advanced options just yet; instead, concentrate on the fundamentals, like the kinds of tasks that users will need to accomplish in order to achieve their desired outcomes when interacting with your product.

Wireframing, an easy-to-understand illustration of a website or app, comes after the user flow has been defined. A wireframe is an outline that specifies where various UI elements will go on pivotal pages.

Concepts from interaction design, visual design, and information architecture all come together in UI design. The final stage is where you put everything you've learned so far into practise to create something that will truly wow your end user.

Whenever the first prototype is complete (typically a clickable mockup), we put it through its paces in a user test here at Cleevio. The new app can't be a success without first being put through its paces in user testing. After collecting data from users, we refine the wireframes and put them through another round of testing.

Following successful testing of the wireframes, the design phase can begin, which will look different depending on the target platform (iOS, Android, Web,...).

Step #4: Analyzing The Project Features

It may come as a surprise to learn that more than 55 percent of the time, features found in software are either unused or used only occasionally.

After mapping out the user journey, you can start fleshing out the feature lists for each stage while keeping the data in mind.

After detailing the features for each milestone, you'll want to rank them in order of importance. How would you describe the single most desired outcome for your users? You can think of this as your defining characteristic.

To determine which features should be finished first, which should be completed later, and which should be left out entirely, one feature prioritization technique is MoSCoW. One more method for determining the importance of features is to consider their economic worth to the company

Step #5: Development and Testing

You should start implementing your MVP features now that you know what they are. Moving forward into development entails testing your product and making adjustments to increase its quality.

Once the wireframes have been greenlit, you can move forward with setting up the architecture and database and developing the back-end features like the API and the administration dashboard.

As two of the most common methods for gauging a product's viability in the market, alpha and beta testing can be of assistance here. Be consistent with your testing, and only implement changes that will have a meaningful impact on the overall user experience.

Before releasing the app into the wild, it is recommended that the following tests be run in a simulated setting:

Functionality Testing

• Usability testing
• Compatibility testing
• Crowd Testing
• Interface Testing
• Performance Testing
• Security testing

When the release is complete, we conduct open or closed beta testing, during which we solicit feedback on features and bugs from as many relevant users as possible who have agreed to participate in the beta test program.

Step #6: Product go-to-market (fit or fail)

Once the MVP has been tested, you can begin considering how to broaden the scope of your product. Either you can succeed by going to investors for seed money to speed up your time to market, or you can fail.

When releasing a mobile app's minimum viable product (MVP) to app stores like the App Store, Amazon Appstore, and Google Play, we call this a "soft launch" and don't recommend any promotional activity at this time.

There may be some hiccups as the app gains popularity, but rest assured that we will fix them right away. Our standard schedule for releasing new builds is every other day. The best time to begin marketing and expanding your user base is after the app has stabilized and your crash rate for users has reached 99.9% or higher.

Conclusion

When the goal is to get a minimum viable product out the door, it can help developers avoid time-consuming and (possibly) pointless tasks. Instead, they iterate on prototypes based on user feedback, which helps them test and refine their hypotheses about the product's needs.