MVPs: The Real MVP

Estimated read time: 5 minutes

In the game of software development, the MVP (or “Minimum Viable Product”) is the real MVP (“most valuable player”).

The Minimal Viable Product is the smallest, simplest, most straightforward software system that delivers sufficient value back to the business to justify creating it. Put another way, it’s the essential first version of the software that does just enough to make it worthwhile to build. This may sound like a simple concept, but it has profound implications.

Globally, we’ve seen companies soar in successful ventures with products we all wonder why we, ourselves, didn’t think of. How did simple ideas such as selling items online turn into something venture capitalists suddenly had their eyes on? You guessed it: the power of the MVP!

The value of MVPs

Companies we all know and love began using MVPs as a way to inexpensively put their product on the market as an inaugural introduction to the public, in hopes not only of subtly pitching the idea to investors and early adopters but also to gather and organize usable feedback for a better product. Building an MVP means you don’t have to think of (or pay for!) everything up-front. Instead, you can get the most critical functionality out into the wild quickly, gather feedback, and evolve the product over time. This allows the business to quickly, efficiently, and continually surpass previously established objectives to better the overall product from the inside out.

MVPs aren’t only important to companies in their infancy, they’re important to maintaining practicality in software development [and beyond].

Determining what to include in an MVP

At Prominent, we’re dedicated not only to building exceptional software but to helping our clients individually discover what is most important to their business and therefore what are the essential first steps in the software development projects. We do this by initiating a discovery process that is unlike other companies. We utilize what we call Solution Roadmapping to better understand our client’s goals, dreams, and values before we start on anything else. We want to help our customers build the most important things first, keeping software development practical, efficient, and excellent.

Let us break it down

We like to use the analogy of making spaghetti. Noodles and sauce, that's the foundation of any good spaghetti. Without both, there is no spaghetti. However, anything you add to these two essential ingredients is extra; extra flavor, extra texture, etc. At Prominent, we’re here to help you establish what your noodles and sauce are. Everything else can be added later. We want to help you establish your MVP. Once we have helped our clients identify the most valuable assets to be included in their impending project, we love to talk about extras too. We will always leave room for more. But we know that the essentials have to come first. Our clients have clearly and consistently reported back how valuable and profitable that perspective has been.

How does Prominent discover the MVP

Our discovery process allows all of us, together, to get to the bottom of what will become the foundation of your software. Typically, this takes place over a series of conversations before we write the first line of code. And once we’ve laid out a floor plan that makes sense using our philosophy of Solution Roadmapping, we’ll be better able not only to describe your project’s MVP but to implement it as well. How we implement the solutions we find is as invaluable as the discovery itself, so we’ll be sure to write it using tools, technology, and techniques that allow for future growth and embraces change. Remember our spaghetti analogy? We want to make sure it's a recipe we can all follow and that’s flexible enough to handle changing tastes over time. The process of discovering the integral parts of your project is necessary to the success of the software overall, but it also allows us to take better advantage over time as feedback comes in and your needs evolve.

Let’s work together to establish your MVP because we know releasing essential functionality early will return the highest value to the business. And that will make you the MVP!