Specify Your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Feature Set (Step 4)
Dan Olsen · 2015
This chapter discusses the next step in the Lean Product Process after value proposition: the decision on the feature set for the minimum viable product (MVP) candidate. For one's MVP, it is necessary to identify the minimum functionality required to validate that the direction is right. This can be termed as an MVP candidate instead of an MVP, because it is based on one's hypotheses. The tactic of breaking features down is consistent with the Lean manufacturing best practice of working in small batch sizes. The parallel for software development is the size of the features or user stories to be coded. Readers who have experience working with Agile development are probably familiar with the idea of breaking features down into smaller chunks. The chapter explains how to think about ROI rigorously, but the prioritization tool can also be used in a less rigorous manner.