What is Minimum Viable Product in Agile? Detailed explained!
Are you struggling to differentiate Minimum Viable Product in Agile, Lean, and Scrum? If you are, there’s no better time to get up to speed.?
If you work in the Singapore startup community, it’s vital that you at least know the basics of Minimum Viable Product. Yet, talking about Minimum Viable Products in Agile, some of you might hit a stumbling block.?
What is Minimum Viable Product in Agile? Is Minimum Viable Product Lean or Agile or Scrum? Let’s discover the terms in this article.?
1. Lean method vs Agile method?
1.1. What is Minimum Viable Product in the Agile method??
Agile is first introduced in the “Manifesto for Agile Software Development” document. 14 CEOs, founders, and engineers came together to publish it in 2001. According to the document, the Agile method has a set of 4 core values and 12 principles as follows:?
4 core values from the Agile Manifesto:?
And 12 principles:?
1. Our highest priority is to please the customer through quick and continuous software development.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference for a shorter timescale.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
6. The most effective method of conveying information is face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
10. Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
12. The team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior later on.
In other words, it prioritizes “developing fast” over “completeness”.
Yet, developing fast here comes alongside failing fast. This allows the team to identify problems before they invest all-in money.?
1.2. What is Lean method??
The demand differs depending on each company. It results in many extra concepts based on the Agile method. There are four main concepts:?
As such, the Lean method and the Agile method, in some ways, have the same essence.?
The lean method means keeping necessary features and eliminating everything else. By doing so, this method allows leaders to focus on their customer value. The benefits don’t end here. It can also maximize product value per every dollar spent.
The Lean method has a different set of principles. The Poppendiecks outlined seven lean principles in their 2001 book:
1. Cut waste: If something (i.e. a meeting, task, or process) does not add value, find a way to cut it from your workflow.
2. Ensure quality: Check product quality through frequent testing, incremental development, and constant feedback.
3. Create knowledge: No learning is lost thanks to keeping notes of team processes and past work. You can do it through formal documentation, knowledge-sharing sessions, and ongoing training.
4. Defer commitment: Make short-time decisions rather than about things months in advance.
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5. Deliver fast: Launch Minimum Viable Product first and improve features later. By doing so, you can reduce time-to-market?
6. Respect people: Build healthy teams by encouraging open communication and a supportive environment.
7. Optimize the whole: Think of your work and your team as an integrated system. This means that leaders always take a big-picture view to identify bottlenecks. And it’s vital that you always keep the team capacity in mind as you assess upcoming work.?
1.3. How to differentiate Agile vs Lean?
Both Minimum Viable Product in Agile and in Lean focuses on rapid over completeness. In fact, there are many areas that overlap between Agile and Lean.??
Yet, it still remains the main differences between Minimum Viable Product in Agile and in Lean. Take a look at the following table:?
In conclusion, Lean is a method for reducing waste within your development process. Meanwhile, Minimum Viable Product in Agile focuses on delivering software with users in mind.
2. Is Minimum Viable Product Agile or Lean?
Now you’re aware of the meaning and core principles of Lean and Agile. Even so, differentiating those isn’t that easy.?
Let’s start with the definition of Minimum Viable Product first.?
To quote Eric Ries, author of “The Lean Startup”, Minimum Viable Product means:?
?“A version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort”.
To put it another way, a Minimum Viable Product is all about getting the maximum return from a minimum investment.
If you want to know more we offer you to read the article about the meaning and benefits of a Minimum Viable Product:?
>>> Read more:?What is a minimum viable product? Meaning and Benefits
The Agile Manifesto mentioned “MVP” for the first time in 2001. Even so, it was until the book “Lean Startup” that Minimum Viable Product became popular. Eric Ries introduced Minimum Viable Product as a part of lean software development. This framework helps gather feedback from real customers to improve the products.?
To answer the question “Is Minimum Viable Product Agile or Lean”, keep in mind that it doesn’t matter what we call it.?
In a trial-and-error world, the one who can find errors the fastest wins. Some people call this philosophy “Build fast – Fail fast”. Eric Ries called it Lean. Kent Beck called it Agile. Whatever you call it, the point is to launch a product and see how it behaves in the real market.?
3. Minimum Viable Product in Scrum – the difference between Minimum Viable Product and Increment
Let us get this straight in the first place: Minimum Viable Product is not a part of Scrum.?
In the Scrum guide, the author didn’t mention any of the Minimum Viable Products. Among the five elements of Scrum, none of them has related to a Minimum Viable Product:?
Yet, you might notice the word “increment” in the final element.?
The increment could be software or a feature, which is usable to users. The developer may make a decision on releasing it to get early feedback. Ex: the voice email, and the texting function….
The minimum Viable Product, in return, is software with a set of working features. Those features are enough to bring value to users so they can be launched to gather early feedback from users. Ex: eCommerce platform, a social media platform, or a mobile app.?
In real projects, developers usually release several increments. Then they call it a Minimum Viable Product in Scrum. In other words, a Minimum Viable Product in Scrum can consist of one increment. But, one increment can not be called a Minimum Viable Product in Scrum.?
Final thoughts
There is nothing better than a clearance in terms and concepts, right??
As we have found out, Minimum Viable Product isn’t a part of Scrum. Yet, it can go alongside Scrum and enhance its benefits. Nevertheless, Minimum Viable Product can be a part of both Lean and Agile methodology. Minimum Viable Product in Lean methodology focuses on eliminating unnecessary. Meanwhile, the Minimum Viable Product in the Agile method focuses on rapid iteration. By doing so, the method ensures that the development could be flexible and fast.?
No matter what we call it, Minimum Viable Product always remains its core value: One of the great ways to test the water. With Minimum Viable Product, you don’t need to invest too much effort and money only to realize “the market doesn’t need your product”.?
If you have an idea and want to test the Singapore market by building a Minimum Viable Product, KVY TECH is here to do that for you. Don’t hesitate to contact us!?