Comments on: Lost in Translation: The Minimal Viable Product /lost-in-translation-the-minimal-viable-product-2 Design leader with a track record of success, delivering user-centered solutions for early stage product development and shipping features on platforms used by billions. Fri, 19 Jun 2020 21:12:42 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 By: Abraham /lost-in-translation-the-minimal-viable-product-2#comment-281 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 16:42:48 +0000 http://2outofthree.com/?p=1817#comment-281 In reply to martinbutt.

@Martin, completely agree with your comments. Execution is as important as the idea itself. Coincidently enough in an earlier draft of this article I used both Facebook and Instagram as examples for the exact same reasons you noted. Thanks for the comment.

]]> By: martinbutt /lost-in-translation-the-minimal-viable-product-2#comment-280 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 15:55:02 +0000 http://2outofthree.com/?p=1817#comment-280 Great article. The term MVP is a rebranding of a concept that has been prevalent in software engineering since the dot-com boom. Once software was no longer pressed on to CDs and could be readily updated, there was no need to build all of the features into the first and only release. We used to just call it “v1”. The term “MVP” is preferred because it emphasizes the often overlooked “viable” part, which is essential in creating successful products.

Viability is a sum of novelty and quality. An MVP is about releasing a reduced feature set that is rock solid in quality. Features in isolation can’t dictate their novelty. A product needs to be framed in context of the market to define its USP. To be viable a product needs to be appreciably better, distinct from, or cheaper than any competitors. Why were millions of users ready to leave MySpace in favor of a less feature rich Facebook? Quality. MySpace would crash and show error messages on a regular basis. Facebook had zero novelty, but total quality. Facebook could offer a substantially better user experience and millions flocked to it.

Even the greatest product designer can’t be sure of the course the universe is going to take. Being agile and able to pivot with ebbs and flows of our ever changing world is critical. Especially considering how cheap and easy launching a software product is today compared to 10 years ago. Competition can appear from anywhere, anytime. While a rigid company is busy getting all the bells and whistles polished, a small guerrilla outfit can bring an MVP to market and establish entry barriers to their competition.

A fine example of this was Instagram launching without a website. Instagram focused on having the best picture filters and a seamless sharing component. They did not need to segment their audience as their MVP product was solid in quality and unique in its offerings. In fact, as soon as they knew they were on to a winner, it was crucial to scale up as quickly as possible to take the market. Many competitors tried to move in on their market share by offering essentially the same service with a web viewer. The extra feature was not a large enough incentive to make users switch. Instagram could not be beaten on novelty or quality, and were free to iterate on their design.

Small high-quality feature sets are the difference between a products that establish market dominance and those that drive customers away, forever.

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