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MVP – AppService guide to product development

If you’re planning to launch a new product, you’ll need an MVP. A Minimum Viable Product is a tool to determine a product’s potential on the market. The MVP model can be used to develop any product, including mobile apps and websites.

Even though an MVP only has a basic set of features, when applied properly, it can help you scale your business. One of AppService’s business focuses is creating an MVP together with our clients to transform their ideas into a businesses and get users’ feedback. Below is our guide to MVP creation milestones.

Identify and evaluate the problem

The idea of product creation generally evolves from a hobby or professional activity. As the sphere is well-known, it’s easier to identify the pain or solution. It’s extremely important to test the idea for market demand beforehand. Interviewing potential customers is the easiest way to get relevant feedback. Additional tips include:

  • Dividing the audience into product users and customers who pay for it. These roles are not always the same because motivations are different (e.g. employees will actively use corporate software but the CEO will decide to purchase it)
  • Evaluating users’ interest
  • Testing a user-friendly business model

Make a list of MVP features and pare it down

The most in-depth, high-quality feedback will determine the product’s functionality and its main advantages. At this stage, it’s crucial to:

  • Define a basic set of functions
  • Select users
  • Identify goals and objectives for CustDev analysis
  • Prepare CustDev questionnaire (forms for analytics, a system for automatic analysis)

As a result, consumers will evaluate the idea and it will be easier to determine the next steps.

Begin development and testing

After CustDev is conducted and development decisions are made, the next phase is SOW creation and basic product architecture prototyping.

Working with the development team on the first stage means having functional requirements set out and a basic prototype created by the beginning of the second stage. The team creates Technical Specifications following the results of CustDev, so you can see an accurate, complete image of the product together with the estimated time and cost of development. After that, the working team is created.

MVP development itself includes interface design, and front-end and back-end development. When a customer is in contact with the development team at every stage, communication is more efficient because the client:

  • Follows the development steps and can make changes to the project in real time
  • Can monitor results
  • Helps solve project issues on-the-spot

It saves significant resources and has a positive impact on future cooperation. For those reasons, the use of Scrum is preferable.

The Scrum framework allows us to identify all the weaknesses in the early steps. That’s why it’s better to plan sprints together with the customer to estimate the implementation period and track the overall result of each sprint. The number of sprints should be agreed with the client, and a certain amount of resources allocated. In this way, it’s possible to predict and monitor the budget and timeline.

Launch an MVP and get feedback

After development is completed, the product will be launched. The landing page, promotional pages in stores, banners, presentations — everything should be ready to attract the first early adopters.

Some projects promote their betas before an official release. It helps to see real feedback and transform the features of the product beforehand.The support and development processes are carried out throughout the life cycle of the product.

AppService has developed MVPs for websites and applications. We offer full consultations for minimum viable product development. We not only help in the implementation of the idea at each stage, but we also form a cohesive team that will launch the product on time and support it throughout the life cycle. As a result, in 3 to 12 months of collaboration, the product will be launched and the idea will become a business.

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