Comments on Lessons Learned: Minimum Viable Product: a guide

What's the difference between a Minimum viable Pro...

2010-04-02T10:57:48.689-07:00

What's the difference between a Minimum viable Product and a Proof Of Concept?

Your presentation was something that I needed righ...

2010-01-10T12:57:44.286-08:00

Your presentation was something that I needed right now. Thank you so much for being so open about your ideas.

Thanks for the insightful ideas. I just came acr...

2009-12-13T07:00:04.032-08:00

Thanks for the insightful ideas.

I just came across a great example MVP -- the IMDb precursor lists. "The IMDb originated from two lists started as independent projects in early 1989 by participants in the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies. In each case, a single maintainer recorded items emailed by newsgroup readers, and posted updated versions of his list from time to time." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imdb)

Of course the pre-IMDb list maintainers weren't thinking about creating a lean startup, but they did put a lot of the concepts into practice. Perhaps IMDb is best described as an emergent lean startup rather than an intentional one. Nonetheless, the story is a good case study.

-Jesse

Very nice post and video - I wonder how much this ...

2009-12-07T18:13:11.891-08:00

Very nice post and video - I wonder how much this changes for people who are using the "eat your own dog food" model and building a product that they will use as well as sell.

Thanks Eric, great blog! Definitely highlights the...

2009-10-31T12:04:09.148-07:00

Thanks Eric, great blog! Definitely highlights the beauty of the web. Iterate quickly to uncover true market demands...

Great Post - could not agree more. My experience i...

2009-09-17T21:40:54.001-07:00

Great Post - could not agree more.
My experience is in Enterprise Software - where we are forced to chunk features into formal releases.

While it is still possible - and recommended to experiment with customers in order to determine the minimum that they need, the exercise is bit more complicated due to the formality of the release process.

Most enterprise customers do NOT want frequent releases for two main reasons (1)They have heavy internal release processes: long QA cycle, security reviews, etc; and (2) It is costly to communicate and educate their own customers about a new set of features.

While the release cycle is not as fast as it could be, the challenge of defining an MVP still remains!

As I present in my blog, defining the MVP requires answering the following question: "Will our customers be willing to buy the product with these features - available at this date - at this price?"

Thanks Eric. Refreshing to finally see lean and ag...

2009-08-25T05:25:23.974-07:00

Thanks Eric. Refreshing to finally see lean and agile thinking emerge in product/business-floors and not only in technology. Critical also, as the lean company/start-up can not be lean by just using lean principles in IT and not in Product Development/Management - a common misinterpretation of the Toyota Production System.

Robert

Without a doubt, this is the most forward thinking...

2009-08-13T03:43:05.473-07:00

Without a doubt, this is the most forward thinking process/solution/methodology/post I've seen in quite awhile. Thank you. I know it's going to help me immensely!

Great post. We are big believers of this principle...

2009-08-08T19:38:15.280-07:00

Great post. We are big believers of this principle at Pollenizer. We call it 'your core utility' - the smallest set of features to create value in your very very focused first segment.

Quick video here with my views on focus;
http://www.viddler.com/explore/BootUpCamp/videos/1/

Your often mention, but never name, your pre-IMVU ...

2009-08-04T14:11:53.124-07:00

Your often mention, but never name, your pre-IMVU company, which was presumably Will Harvey's There Inc.

You refer to an anonymous Valley-based MMORPG that consumed years and tens of millions in development, but got little commercial traction. There was only one such company.

No reason not to name it -- you're unfailingly respectful, and everyone in the industry knows most companies fail, so postmortems are not an insult.

I've started a Wikipedia page for the Minimum Viab...

2009-08-03T20:08:49.602-07:00

I've started a Wikipedia page for the Minimum Viable Product to burn it into my brain.

Alan mentions above what I believe is the critical...

2009-08-03T11:49:57.641-07:00

Alan mentions above what I believe is the critical learning element your team needs to gain insight into via the Minimum Viable Product, Compelling Product Offering or other named approach . . . that being how many potential customers will have a willingess to pay for a core offering that you can consistently deliver on profitably.

There is a distinction between product and offering. Those that focus solely on their product miss the potential found in communicating an offering that includes the product and other elements that customers place value on and increase willingess to pay.

I do this as a core part of the Product Management...

2009-08-03T10:52:45.668-07:00

I do this as a core part of the Product Management process I use at all startups. When we originally came up with the idea during the dotcom boom we called it a "Compelling Product Offering" -- the minimum feature set that caused people to be compelled to pay us money.

It's a great exercise and useful to help the biz folk combat scope creep. It's much easier to cut features that aren't part of your CPO.