To drive digital acceleration, embracing an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) mindset becomes crucial when developing digital products. The ability to swiftly create and launch a product that fulfills users’ basic needs becomes a vital component for success in today’s ever-evolving business landscape.
At Digbang, we recently sat down with Darío Govergun, CTO of the company, to delve deeper into the meaning of having an MVP mindset, Digbang’s role as a technological partner in this context, and the benefits it brings to both small and large teams within companies during their digital acceleration journey.
Here are the key takeaways from our conversation:
1. Understanding the added value and client objectives
Often, there’s a gap between a client’s business idea and their understanding of where value is added and how it fits into existing processes. This is where technology plays a crucial role – it must support and shape the digital product effectively.
To achieve this, a thorough exploration of the business context and the client’s sought-after value is necessary. Sometimes, clients are unaware of this value, and it becomes the responsibility of their technological partner to discover and offer it through a digital product. Expanding the realm of possibilities helps select the best direction to align with the client’s objectives.
2. Exploring new business opportunities
The process of exploring an MVP is an ongoing journey. Setting boundaries and expectations to meet time-to-market deadlines is essential. These limits are the essence of an MVP; otherwise, it loses its purpose. Waiting to perfect the product from the outset can be unstrategic when compared to competitors.
“Changes shouldn’t be seen as bad; they are natural. What’s important is to understand the reasons behind the change so that the team can devise sensible alternatives to achieve that new functionality. Working on a digital project with this dynamic makes the team embrace the evolution as their own,” comments Darío.
3. Finding the balance between time, quality, and functionality
Developing an MVP involves balancing time, quality, and functionality. Emphasizing one aspect affects the development of the others. Additionally, external factors such as information known to the client but not the technological partner, clients with specific product expectations, and investors’ interests that might not align with user needs, come into play.
4. MVP is not opposed to quality
The notion that an MVP sacrifices quality is relative. It depends on finding the right balance. Some MVPs serve as tests to gauge market viability. If unsuccessful, they are discarded until a version aligning with objectives is discovered. However, many MVPs lay the foundation for a system and actually work well. Based on results, additional functionalities are added.
“MVP and quality are not inherently opposed. It depends on the business, the client, and their objectives,” clarifies Darío. For instance, a business or tool expecting a large user base from the outset must prioritize development time and quality to scale and perform effectively. Conversely, when such constraints don’t exist, flexibility allows more functionalities within the same timeframe.
5. Small but firm steps
An MVP mindset aids in efficient resource management within a company, including time and costs. “Showing users something new that improves a part of the process is better than waiting years for a big implementation and then having to migrate everything. Starting small and migrating gradually helps users adapt to changes more quickly,” explains Darío. The implementation should feel natural, ensuring users receive an improved product.
Large developments often take at least three years to implement, during which time the company may have undergone significant changes. In such cases, projects aren’t discarded but implemented anyway, resulting in the same problems they were meant to solve initially. On the other hand, starting with an MVP allows for gradual adjustments and adaptation to change.
In conclusion, embracing an MVP mindset is essential for the success of digital product development. It provides agility, rapid response times, adaptability to change, and valuable insights through testing and analysis. Furthermore, it offers the flexibility needed to adjust and evolve the product as a company progresses in its digital transformation. By understanding the benefits of an MVP mindset, startups and corporations can accelerate their innovation process with careful and measured efforts in developing their digital products.