A minimum viable product (MVP) in app development is a product (an app) with just enough features to be usable by early users and fulfil the basic requirements of a user who can then provide feedback for future development. In simple terms, an MVP is a fully functional app with essential features to complete the user journey.
“You’re selling the vision and delivering the minimum feature set to visionaries, not everyone.”
STEVE BLANK
Going with an MVP means that mobile app developers potentially avoid lengthy and unnecessary work and only goes with minimum coding work that gets work done. to make it clear let’s have a look at the following app screens. These two login screens do the same work but coding time varies from 10-15 hours.
These two login screens for Pinterest do the same thing but screen A will be considered as an MVP and screen B a final product. Both the screens let the user get into the Pinterest app but cost and development times varies. Going with screen A will save developer’s time so the cost of your app development. This is why experts suggest going with an MVP before launching your final product.
Origin of the concept
The concept of an MVP in mobile app development gained popularity when Eric Ries described it in his book the Lean Startup. It is said that it’s being practised since 2009 in the software industry.
Advantages of an MVP
- Developers potentially avoid lengthy and (ultimately) unnecessary work
- The concept can be used to validate a market need for a product and incremental developments of an existing product
- Helps in testing a potential business model to customers to see how the market would react
- Saves your time and cost in developing your app
- To establish a builder’s abilities in crafting the product required
When to use an MVP?
An MVP is recommended in the strategy of experimentation where a product (App) development team can build an (MVP) minimum viable product with (MMF) Minimum Marketable Features to test their product idea in the market – which is focused on earning.
Why it matters?
According to a report from the Project Management Institute (PMI), 14 per cent of IT projects fail. However, that number only represents the total failures. Of the projects that didn’t fail outright, 31 per cent didn’t meet their goals, 43 per cent exceeded their initial budgets, and 49 per cent were late.
Summing up
Success and failure of a project depend on the usability of that project and market demand. Developing a project on time and under the budget is essential to test whether your project will succeed in the market. Going with an MVP ensures you don’t unnecessarily spend time and money on the development you don’t need to launch your Minimum Marketable Product. So, be wise and consider build your MVP to test your app idea in the market.
