Presented by Anthony Armendariz and Danielle Moser from Funsize at the Digital Project Management Summit 2014 - Austin, Texas.
Twitter: #dpm2014, #iwantmymvp
The Minimum Viable Product (or MVP) is the first shippable version of a product containing purely core features, distributed as a test release in order to create useful feedback for the most basic features. Planning for a MVP release requires the Product Owner to know how to organize and prioritize a dense backlog of features, but in an agile environment with a diverse team and uniquely talented vendors we posit they need not do it alone.
Different lenses for knowing what MVP means to your internal and external team so you can know if you are building the right thing.
What must the MVP consist of to be meaningful to the target user? What’s the best way to phase out the release of everything else? What can be cut completely? Basic agile/lean design project management techniques. Important conflict resolution and emotional management techniques. How to sell it with a "Flexible Scope Retainer".
3. TOPICS TO DISCUSS
An understanding of MVP and other approaches
Creating the ideal engagement style
How we manage MVP projects at Funsize.
In Practice: A Funsize case study.
Q&A (if time allows)
DIGITAL PM SUMMIT 2014 ・ AUSTIN, TEXAS ・ @FUNSIZE ・ #IWANTMYMVP
4. PART I
GETTING TO MVP
DIGITAL PM SUMMIT 2014 ・ AUSTIN, TEXAS ・ @FUNSIZE ・ #IWANTMYMVP
5. DEFINITION
THE MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT (OR MVP) IS THE FIRST
SHIPPABLE VERSION OF A PRODUCT CONTAINING PURELY
CORE FEATURES, DISTRIBUTED AS A TEST RELEASE TO
GENERATE USEFUL FEEDBACK FOR THE PRODUCT’S
DIFFERENTIATING FEATURES SO THAT SUBSEQUENT
RELEASES HAVE THE MAXIMUM CHANCE FOR SUCCESS.
6. GOALS
• Validate a new business model.
• Launch a new product or feature in an existing application.
• Validate a theory or hypothesis.
• Impress investors or stakeholders to secure funding.
• Use financial runway smartly.
• Get it to market and in users hands as fast as possible.
10. “It would be pointless even if I managed to
understand how it works.”
- A User
11. “We’ve long accepted that for a product to be useful,
it needs to have acceptable levels of both utility and
usability. Yet far too often, we seem to ignore the
former in favor of the latter, ending up with lots of
easy and pleasant applications that have no reason to
exist. One could argue that the first version of the
iOS app Color fell into this trap.”
!
- RIAN VAN DER MERWE
12. “…it was not able to provide the "differentiated
customer experience we had hoped for.”
13. QUALITIES OF AN “MVP”
• Redefines or disrupt an industry (for some).
• Fulfills a basic human or user need in a meaningful way.
• Balances features that users want.
• Creates an advocate out of the users (people).
• Encourages engagement and builds habits (hopefully good ones).
• Reaches the highest quality possible within the “limits”.
14. PART III
THE RIGHT ENGAGEMENT STYLE
(FUNSIZE’S APPROACH)
DIGITAL PM SUMMIT 2014 ・ AUSTIN, TEXAS ・ @FUNSIZE ・ #IWANTMYMVP
17. BUILDING DIGITAL PRODUCTS
WE’RE IN THE BUSINESS OF
BUILDING DOG HOUSES
NOT CATHEDRALS.
(BUT THEY SHOULD STILL BE BEAUTIFUL)
18. YOUR TEAM MUST EMBRACE
• The time, financial, or resourcing constraints.
• Generating quick ideas as a team to validate before investing.
• Favoring lean, quick and sometime half-complete work.
• Failing fast and often.
• The ability and desire to pivot at any time and embrace change.
• That it’s NEVER ever, ever, ever done.
• Listening to users.
19. FLEXIBLE SCOPE FTW!
• No project schedules. Only a start and end date.
• No fixed deliverables but the services you’ll provide.
• No promises to deliver anything specific to the client.
• Promise a team with consistent effort. Velocity not hours.
• Provide a standard weekly, sprint or monthly price.
Learn More: http://funsize.co/flexible-scope-retainers
20. PART II
PROJECT MANAGING MVP
DIGITAL PM SUMMIT 2014 ・ AUSTIN, TEXAS ・ @FUNSIZE ・ #IWANTMYMVP
23. YOU NEED TO DISCOVER THE PROBLEM FIRST
“..but we’re a fast-moving startup and we don’t have time to
sit around and talk.” You do if the alternative is failure,
brought on by an unhealthy addiction to pretty things that
lead to fifteen minutes of fame, but not much else.
!
…We cannot let the allure of the visual tear us too far away
from the usefulness of the products we develop. It is true that
failure teaches us a great deal about what works and what
doesn’t. But it’s so much cheaper and more effective to fail at a
variety of ideas on paper than it is to fail at one full-blown, VC-backed
idea. Together, we can avoid building projects that
generate buzz, but don’t meet the needs of the people. So let’s
discover before we build.”
24.
25. OUR NEXT TALK
TOP 10 REASONS EVERY STARTUP
NEEDS A PSYCHIC J/K!
60. As of last week….
“HR, OPS, OR A CULTURE
PRODUCT?”
61. CONCLUSIONS
Advantage: Flex Scope & Agile Process
Success: Repeatable Collaboration and Ongoing Work
Doing the best we could at all steps
Accepting that the work is never “done”
Letting user feedback drive the direction
@FUNSIZE / #IWANTMYMVP
62. PART V
IS IT REALLY ABOUT CREATING THE MOST
MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT?
What’s the proper lens for your project?
63. FROM THE BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
Validate your business idea with “MVP”
MINIMUM
VIABLE
PRODUCT
64. FROM THE USER’S PERSPECTIVE
Prove a high-value satisfying experience with “MDP”
MINIMUM
DESIRABLE
PRODUCT
65. FOR THE RISK TAKERS
Think for your users with a ‘MAP”
MAXIMUM
ARROGANT
PRODUCT
66. WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE VIABILITY AND NEED TO EXECUTE
Use your resources better by using ‘MFP”
MINIMUM
FEASIBLE
PRODUCT
67. SO…
WHAT CAN WAIT?
WHO KNOWS.
DIGITAL PM SUMMIT 2014 ・ AUSTIN, TEXAS ・ @FUNSIZE ・ #IWANTMYMVP