Demos, Prototypes, and MVPs

https://jacobian.org/2020/jan/16/demos-prototypes-mvps/

by _quhg • 7 years ago

55 10 7 years ago

jacobian.org

lucasverra• 7 years ago

The skateboard analogy comes from spotify’s literature on product.

It does make sens on the UX side but it takes energy/ressources to figure out your product/market.

In the skateboard approach, if you selling mobility (from A > B), then the skateboard is the mvp.

If you are selling mobility for a family, then it is not.

swagasaurus-rex• 7 years ago

Great point. Perhaps it should be called a 'Minimum viable solution to a problem people will pay for'.

goblin89• 7 years ago

if your product is a wedding cake, your MVP is a single layer

I rather prefer the analogy put forward by Intercom: try to cupcake it instead[0], have a finished mini-version of the product instead of just one layer of the full version.

I believe the idea is the same as Nikki’s, just the analogy possibly more apt.

[0] https://www.intercom.com/blog/start-with-a-cupcake/

ealexhudson3• 7 years ago

I don't personally think any of this is right. A good synonym for "MVP" should be "experiment": you're trying to test something.

So a cupcake might be a suitable MVP, but you're either trying to confirm the basic flavour is fine (so single layer is OK), or maybe the combination of flavours is fine (multiple layers plus icing?) or maybe the overall look/design of the cake (in which case a cupcake is wrong, you need at least one large layer, but maybe's it's a sponge rather than fruitcake because that's easier/cheaper)

If you already know in some detail what the "final product" will be, then there's not a lot of point doing an MVP. The MVP is there to learn about what the final product should be. It's not supposed to be a go/no-go test on whether the final product is correct.

jsmeaton• 7 years ago

No, you’re missing the entire point of the article. An MVP is working software being used by users. You then expand on it to make it better.

A prototype is an experiment - confirming an idea works.

I think you’re conflating the two.

boublepop• 7 years ago

A good synonym for "MVP" should be "experiment"

You are focusing solely on the M and forgetting VP. If something isn’t a Viable Product then it isn’t a Minimal Viable Product.

You could create an MVP as an “experiment”, but it can’t be synonyms because not every experiment is even a product or a viable product and thus not at all a MVP.

vdizzle• 7 years ago

Wish I could upvote this comment more.

As someone who kept throwing out MVPs every few weeks to painfully discouraging indifference, the term "experiment" finally started to make sense - each attempt kept missing a leap-of-faith assumption being tested, so each failure was discouraging instead of enlightening/iterative.

I think first time startup founders incorrectly assume building an MVP is like logically assembling a lego set (one best practice feature + research + user feedback guarantees people using your MVP more than once). When that logic fails, it's a heavy hit mentally.

For example, sure you know that people pay for babysitters - but can YOU get people to pay for babysitters? Pretty sure that breaks all viability if false no matter how fancy the product, so might be a good starting point designing the "minimal" part of your experiment. Educational literature might benefit from less semantics about definitions, and more teachings about what a good MVP attempt #1 looks like.

sriku• 7 years ago

I've found it useful to dereference words when they sound ambiguous. In the case of MVP, "minimum" is clear, "viable" is also fairly clear, "product" has been a candidate to get stuck on. I usually replace it with "something someone (a user) is willing to pay money for".

edit: .. assuming the idea of "MVP" is valuable.

Demos, Prototypes, and MVPs

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