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MVP development is one of the development approach methods that has been attracting attention against the backdrop of the rise of startup culture and the trend of agile development in recent years. For example, if you suddenly develop a product without considering market needs and problem solvability, or develop a waterfall type that sets detailed development requirements, procedures, and schedules, the time and cost to be able to check the market response, there is a possibility that it will take time and by the time the product is completed, it will not match the needs of the market, and it will be necessary to redo the development, and in some cases it may cause a big loss.
In a modern society where lifestyles change and market competition is intensifying, it is very important to understand the needs of the market and quickly verify hypotheses in making products. This time's theme "MVP Development" is to promote such an approach. MVP development, which incorporates practical minimal functions and elements and releases them early, and repeats improvements and expansions while reflecting the needs of the market, is attracting high attention in that it can reduce waste and minimize costs and risks.
Therefore, this time, we will introduce the features, merits and demerits, types and development flow of MVP development. If you want to know about MVP development, or if you want to know about the method while considering product development, please take a look until the end.
In my experience working in system development, app development, and digital transformation, a concept I frequently encounter and deeply explore is the MVP. But what is MVP, exactly? MVP stands for "Minimum Viable Product," and it refers to a product with the essential functions needed for a product or service.
Understanding MVP development has been crucial in my professional journey. It's a method that involves incorporating important minimal functions and elements as part of a lean startup approach. This methodology, which I've personally adopted and refined, revolves around releasing a product early and then refining it based on user feedback.
The lean startup approach, essential to MVP development, is about rapidly iterating through the cycle of hypothesis formation, product implementation, and trajectory modification. This method minimizes waste and accelerates improvements, bringing us closer to success with each iteration (Source: Dictionary of IT Terms).
A defining feature of MVP development, as I've learned and practiced, is its emphasis on verification. This approach allows us to develop additional functions based on needs while minimizing risks. By gauging user reactions and behaviors, we can efficiently advance development. The ever-changing demands and trends in the app market highlight the importance of speed in development. Delays can mean missing the mark on user needs, a risk that MVP development helps mitigate.
From my perspective, MVP development is particularly beneficial when quick, iterative development is necessary. It enables us to roll out minimal functionality, verify hypotheses, and iterate based on user needs. This approach, which I've found cost-effective and time-efficient, is gaining traction among startups and new business planners in large corporations.
Furthermore, I've noticed a frequent comparison between MVP development and agile development. While both involve rapid development, the key difference lies in their focus areas. MVP development emphasizes verification, whereas agile development emphasizes speed. Agile development involves quick and flexible progression through small, prioritized units, whereas MVP focuses more on the iterative cycle of planning, designing, implementing, and testing.
Here we will introduce the merits and demerits of MVP development.
・Realize quick market entry with efficient development
By focusing on developing important functions and entering the market early, you can get user feedback. By improving and expanding products based on this, it will be possible to quickly develop apps that respond to the trend and needs of the times in markets where demand and trends are likely to change. In addition, by entering the market quickly before becoming saturated, users and market profits can be acquired in advance.
・User-centered development
In order to repeat short-term releases, identify needs and improvements based on user feedback, and verify hypotheses, you can explore how to develop products that meet user needs at an early stage. In addition, by developing with an emphasis on the functions required by users, development with high user satisfaction can be realized.
・Minimize the risk of time and cost
Compared to modifying the product after making it perfect, you can reduce time and cost because you can reduce the development by minimizing the functions. In addition, it is easy to correct the direction when the demand is not as expected or when the user's needs change.
・Depending on the project, it is unsuitable
In the case of complex systems or large-scale software, it may be difficult to provide sufficient functions and performance within the range of MVP due to high performance requirements, processing capacity, scalability problems, etc. In such a case, a more comprehensive development approach is required.
・Restrictions on functions
In a way that goes against the merits, users who expect a fulfilling experience for the minimum function may not be able to meet their demands and expectations. In addition, projects that work on advanced technologies and unknown areas may not be able to adequately cover technical risks in MVP development. In such cases, PoC (technical feasibility and proof of concept) based on more research and experiments are required.
・Increased risk
In MVP development, hypothesis verification at the early stage is important, but it is difficult to accurately grasp market needs and user needs, so there is a risk of developing based on false hypothesis verification.
In this way, MVP development is suitable for development that aims to provide speed with as little time and cost as possible, but the scale of the project is large, there is a long-term development plan, and other than the main functions are of high quality. In the case of development that requires a state, MVP development may not be suitable because it takes time and cost to modify or change.
The development method needs to comprehensively look at many elements such as the content of the project, budget, and members, and choose the most appropriate one at that time.
The types of MVP development methods are as follows. Choose the most suitable type of MVP development, such as the purpose of the product to be developed and the goals and conditions of the project.
A method of providing the functions of a product or service by a person temporarily acting as a substitute before implementing automated functions and by manual or human intervention. You can get feedback to understand the user's needs and behavior patterns and determine the direction of automation. In addition, it is easy to understand customers because they can interact directly with customers.
A method that focuses on the verification of ideas and concepts, creates a simplified version of the function and design of the product using prototype tools, etc., and collects user feedback in a form close to when the product actually works.
A method of producing tutorial videos to explain functions and operation methods through videos and animations, not actual products, and visually conveying the functions and value of products and services. Even if the product or service has not been officially completed, there is no problem if the basic information of the service is conveyed to the user centered on the core part of the service.
A method to create a web page that conveys attractiveness and explanations while products and services have not been officially completed to attract users' attention and verify market demand. Users can measure their needs by registering for e-mail magazines and purchasing prototypes via the landing page. In addition, by setting up inquiry sites and question boxes, there is a possibility to receive feedback from users.
A method to manually replace the parts originally operated by the system. We will delegate the development of functions on the supplier side and devote resources to developing functions that users (clients) can use at the minimum. All functions and processing that are invisible to users on the supplier side will be verified by human power. By handling a part of the system, humans can reduce development costs and check whether the products and services to be provided are worth offering.
While the "concierge" shows that living people are providing services on the user side, the difference is that the "Wizard of Oz" seems to have a system from the user side.
Among the large companies that are now very successful, there are many companies that have developed using MVP development. Here, we will introduce three of the services used all over the world.
・Uber
The experience of Uber's founder hiring a driver with a friend led me to come up with an idea for Uber. I made a prototype with my friends and officially released the mobile app version after the beta version was launched. In the meantime, the secret of success was to start with minimal functions, gain feedback from users, and improve the app by implementing additional functions with detailed updates. In addition, UberEats, which applied car dispatch services, has also spread rapidly, and trust has accumulated from its evaluation, and global expansion has been carried out, and Uber can be said to have been successful.
・Dropbox
Dropbox produced a demo video introducing Dropbox before producing the actual product. The demo video can be easily shared on the web, so it spread in the blink of an eye, which caused more response than the founder imagined. The number of beta waiters for the service jumped from 5,000 to 75,000 overnight, and the result of many people registering as members changed the demand in the market for Dropbox to be confident.
Before the release, we focused on hypothesis verification and created a prototype of modern Twitter that can send 160-character messages, starting with a small internal test. After that, additional functions were implemented one after another with updates. For example, in the first version, there were only functions such as tweet posts, follow-followers, mentions, and hashtags, but later updates implemented functions such as favorites, retweets, and DMs.
In this way, as you can see from the types of MVP development and actual development cases, various approaches are possible even with the same MVP development. As in these cases, many successful companies started with a small start. By making use of user feedback, improving and growing products, new ideas and applications will be born.
The development process of the prototype is as follows:
Requirement Definition, Basic design
Decide what kind of product you want to make, the goal, function, specifications, appearance, etc. In normal development methods, it is necessary to do it carefully so that there is no difference in recognition here, but in prototype development, it is important to decide the minimum necessary without making detailed decisions to verify and improve prototypes.
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Prototype Development
Develop actual prototypes based on requirement definition and basic design. Simulate design and interaction, and create in a way that you can actually experience ideas and functions.
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Review / Test
Have testers evaluate the validity and ease of use of the prototype and collect feedback. Verify the need for improvement based on the collected feedback.
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Fix / Revise
Make corrections based on the results of reviews and tests. Bug fixes, add functions, adjust the design, etc., and repeatedly verify and improve.
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Book Development
Based on the prototype that has been modified, we will carry out full-scale development. Implement based on prototype improvements and feedback. The steps of this development include the addition of necessary functions, database design, security measures, etc.
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Release
The product is provided to the user and actually used. After the release, user feedback and bug reports will be collected, maintained and updated.
The market price of prototype development costs is wide, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of yen for small ones. Because it is a method to get quick results, it implements the minimum necessary functions first, collects feedback early and responds to corrections quickly, and has less risk, so it can reduce costs compared to system development costs of other development methods.
In order to succeed in speedy development, which is a characteristic of MVP development, it is necessary to understand the intention of MVP development and focus on its efforts. I summarized the points below.
・Minimize the necessary functions
In the early stage of development, by narrowing down the necessary functions and developing high-priority functions and core functions, it will be possible to release quickly.
・Clarify what you want to verify
By clarifying the hypotheses and goals you want to verify, setting specific verification items and success criteria, and matching the development process, you will save time and cost.
・Focus on feedback
By collecting feedback from users early and reflecting it in the direction and function improvement of the product, we can develop according to the needs of users.
MVP Campus is a framework for clarifying hypothesis verification without waste. You can clarify the hypothesis of the business model, what to be verified, the product image to aim for, etc., and determine the direction of MVP development. The following are the components of the MVP campus.
・Hypothesis
Determine the needs, challenges, personas, etc. that are subject to the product.
・Purpose
Clarify the purpose of hypothesis verification.
・Method
Describe how to specifically verify hypotheses using MVP.
・Data, conditions
Set the data and conditions necessary to proceed with hypothesis verification.
・Development, production
It will be implemented based on the contents defined and designed so far.
・Cost
Calculate all system development costs for MVP such as labor costs and miscellaneous expenses here.
・Time
Estimate the time you need, set deadlines, etc. and work systematically with a sense of speed.
・Risks that can be avoided, possible risks
Describe all the risks that can occur by demonstrating hypothesis verification.
・Results
Summarize the results obtained by hypothesis verification.
・Learning
Based on the results, we will describe future improvements, what we have learned, how to solve them, and the future.
In this way, MVP development is an important roadmap for advancing the development process. You can organize the necessary elements and viewpoints and get various ideas with a common consciousness.
So far, we have summarized the features and merits of MVP development, the differences from other development approach methods, and the reasons why they are attracting attention.
MVP development can reduce time and cost and advance product development without waste, and you can understand why more and more companies are adopting this development method as one way to overcome in a modern society where market competition is intensifying. I think it's free. And because it matches the background of the rapidly changing modern society, it is expected that it will become an increasingly important development approach in the future.
JIITAK supports MVP development before entering full-scale product development. While receiving user feedback, we will build a development system that can quickly respond to improvements and function expansion and run parallel. For your product development needs contact JIITAK.
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