Should Companies Use an MVP for their Enterprise Software Projects?

Companies are building new software and updating their legacy software at a growing speed. Internal software projects are designed to reduce the company's cost of operation and scale its growth.

One of the major challenges a company faces when rolling out a new software meant to be used by employees is the team’s willingness to change and adapt their work process. This causes the project owners to argue that the software product must have complete features before it can be released to the company’s users. This is a much riskier method compared to the Lean Startup methodologies used by technology startups which stresses the advantages of building an MVP in a short time and releasing it to the users early.

Many companies, especially SMBs, when building new software products for internal use, should explore strategies to start with an MVP and implement Lean Software Development methodologies. One of the critical parts of the Lean Startup methodology is the Build-Measure-Learn Loop which is an iterative process that allows teams to build, test, and learn from their products quickly. It was proven to significantly increase the success rate of software products and deliver more projects on time and within budget.

The Build-Measure-Learn Loop can be challenging to implement, especially when building a digital product. A lot of preemptive research work is required to identify and analyze the users, the software features, milestones, and the KPIs to measure.

Building an MVP can be challenging because it requires you to prioritize the most important features and cut out any unnecessary features; good luck with getting your users to agree on the most important features. The MVP should be developed fast so that you can start testing it with your users. The company's challenge with a partial release is to get their employees to agree to test and then use an “incomplete” product.

Measuring the results of a digital product is the most crucial step and can be challenging because there are many different metrics that you can track. It is important to identify the most important metrics for your business, and not for your software, and to track them consistently. A strong product manager is key to success.

• Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP): The first step in the Build-Measure-Learn Loop is to build an MVP. An MVP is a product that has the core features and functionality to validate the problem that you are trying to solve. However, it does not have all the features you would like to include in the final product.

• Measuring the Results: Once you have built an MVP, you need to measure the results. This means tracking how users interact with the product and collecting feedback from them.

• Learning from the Results: Once you have measured the results of your MVP, you need to learn from them. This means analyzing the data and identifying what is working well and what is not working well.

Learning from the results can be challenging because it requires you to be objective and to be willing to change your plans based on the data.

Here are some tips for overcoming the challenges of the Build-Measure-Learn Loop when building a digital product:

• Start with a clear understanding of the problem that you are trying to solve. This will help you prioritize the features of your MVP and measure the results of your MVP effectively.
• Use a variety of methods to collect feedback from users. This could include surveys, interviews, and usability testing.
• Be objective when analyzing the results of your MVP. Don't be afraid to change your plans based on the data.
• Iterate quickly. Once you have learned from the results of your MVP, make changes to the product, and test it with users again.

By following these tips, you can overcome the challenges of the Build-Measure-Learn Loop and build a successful digital product.

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