Blog post

Targeted development of digital products through the MVP approach

Concept
MVP stands for "Minimum Viable Product" and figuratively means a product with the lowest possible development effort and the greatest possible added value for potential customers. We try to apply the MVP concept in part to all digital products that we develop for our customers.

What is the MVP approach?

MVP stands for "Minimum Viable Product" and figuratively stands for a product with the lowest possible development effort and the greatest possible added value for potential customers. More concretely, it is a software product with the smallest possible functional scope, which achieves the minimum requirements for use by real users.

The background of the MVP approach is to shorten product development cycles in order to determine as quickly as possible whether a new product idea is marketable. This is to be answered by evaluating usage and user feedback. Elaborate pre-planning is avoided in order to obtain product-related feedback as quickly as possible. If the product is promising, it can be continuously improved and gradually expanded with new features.

How do we use the MVP approach in our projects?

We try to transfer the MVP idea in parts to all digital products we develop for our customers. Therefore, we also adapt this way of working for projects that do not work or only work with difficulty with a reduced range of functions or that are not aimed at testing a new business idea. In this way, functionalities can be developed from "rough" to "fine". Our digital products are always designed to change or grow incrementally.

So we try to prioritize the sub-aspects of a planned product together with our customers and plan components that are less relevant for the launch to subsequent development phases. Once the scope of a development phase has been determined, we first develop the "big picture" and then take care of working out the details.

What are the advantages of the MVP approach for us?

The MVP idea lowers the risk of investing in the wrong direction for everyone involved. Our development team can always focus on the essential product components and avoids investing unnecessary effort in less important aspects. In the product itself, undesirable developments are prevented that do not meet the requirements of the users. In this way, our customers can invest in a very targeted manner in products that are also desired and needed. Besides, we as software developers can prove the manufacturing competence for a product with little effort. We can thus convince new customers of us within a limited budget framework.

What are the risks of the MVP approach?

Some products are not suitable for the MVP approach. If existing products are to be renewed or feature-rich competitor products are on the market, it is not recommended to start with a reduced feature set. It is to be expected that the reduced functionality will not offer sufficient benefits, so that the product will not be accepted and thus will not generate user feedback.