Read Here - LinkedIn Audio Event: The Crucial Role of MVP Development in Software Asset Building

• Harunshah Salim
• 15 Mar. 2024

When you are launching a new app for your business its important to do everything you can to increase the odds of your success. One way that i have found to guarantee success for any new software product is to start with an MVP.

A minimum viable product or MVP is a version of your product, the first version or the initial version that allows you to test the most important features with the least amount of work, so basically it goes like this. You have a great idea and now you ask what I should do next.

In the old days you would record all those ideas, hand those over to a software development company who would then spend an year or 2 to create your product and then they would give it back to you and it may or maynot work.

One of the problems with this approach is that your priorities change over time, that big awesome feature that you were so passionate about in the beginning may not be that valuable once you actually get the final solution. And another problem with this approach is that its so expensive you have to invest a ton of money up front to pay for the development and then you also have to invest all of your time,

we are talking about months and months of meetings and works and reviews to try and finish this product but those two pale in comparison to the biggest problem and that is, that you have no idea if this product is actually going to be a success,

you essentially are going into a casino throwing down tens of thousands of money and placing a bet, will others like the product? Will this help your employees to perform better? You dont know.

Well i am here to say that dont do that start with an MVP. An MVP is the most basic form of your software product and there is two criteria that i have for this. It needs to be useful and unique.

To help determine what should be in your MVP you can ask a question like this, what is that one thing your software must do to your business, and what impact the software can bring in to your business processes.

With this very focused version of your app you can quickly test the hypothesis of what your business exactly needed and quickly pivot based on the feedback.

But the most powerful part of starting with an MVP is that you are guaranteeing yourself success.

By investing a small amount of money and time upfront to validate your idea you are creating yourself a win - win scenario.

You see if your MVP flops and the employees / users do not use it, well then you can learn from that experience and take all the money that you saved and invest that into another project. That's a win.

And if you MVP is a hit then you can invest more money and time into the project with confidence knowing that you are making a smart financial decision which is another win.

So starting with an MVP guarantees your success and creates this win - win scenario.

Let's look at real-world examples:

• Airbnb : They Started with a simple platform for listing spare rooms, and iterated based on user feedback.
• Dropbox : They Offered basic file sharing initially, then expanded features based on user needs.
• Uber : They Connected riders and drivers through a streamlined app, focusing on core functionality.
• Whatsapp : They Started with basic chat and image sharing function and then scaled to audio call, video call, status and much more.

Let us discuss with some of the MVPs we have worked on :

We worked with a global road side assistance company who have a great idea to streamline their total processes. Since the processes starts right from the policy issuance, taking customer tickets, allocating mechanics, making towing decisions and much more, we discussed with them the concept of MVP and sat down to build a software with the most needed functions at the moment to start with. Once the MVP was delivered they implemented the same and aggressively took feedbacks from their employees about the usability and functions. They used it for 100 days and prepared a feedback list. It has been found that that solution is working perfectly and the employees are getting the essence. Organisation won that confidence at this point and decided to invest more time and money to build the envisioned final solution.The software was delivered on a 2 week sprint basis and now it is successfully up and running. This is one type of the Win-Win situation we mentioned earlier.

We had another experience also. We worked with an organisation from the printing industry. They were from GCC and the whole concept of the software requirement was very much confusing and complex. We suggested an MVP model approach and we started by considering the very important functionalities they needed from the requirements. After the MVP delivery they released the same to a group or 100 entities and took feedbacks after 100 days. Based on the feedback they realised that even though the idea is stunning and the software is working perfectly, there are many gaps in the market which resulted in very low satisfaction from the users. Based on this realisation they have stopped further proceeding with the idea and saved their time and money.This is also a Win-Win situation as mentioned before.

If you are a running business facing different challenges and knows that through a custom made software solution you can overcome this state, or you know that the current software setup is not helping you to reach that ultimate goal, or you are someone with a killer software idea with funds and time but not sure about the market, or a startup looking to pitchin to the market through a solution to many real life problems, Starting with an MVP can give you Wings!!! For sure. Just like the Ads of Redbull says, it can really give you wings.

Over the past years DataguardNXT have actively worked with Minimum Viable Products from Japan, Italy, USA, UK, GCC, India and more. Due to these multi cultural and multi time zone engagements we have evolved as a strong team working round the clock matching with different time zones.

Always Remember, MVP development is a journey, and with the right approach, you can build remarkable software assets.

nxtSoftware by DataguardNXT, Your trusted software development partner.