“Are you trying to achieve greatness, or are you trying to avoid disappointment?”
Brennan Lee Mulligan
Small failures lead to big success. Big failures are born of inexperience and hubris. Stop getting trapped into betting big on the new shiny object projecting that it will solve the problems your organization faces. Repeatable success comes from making small bets, learning, and sustainable wins.
This can be found in product development’s concept of MVP – Minimum Viable Product: an early, basic version of a product that meets the minimum necessary requirements for use but can be adapted and improved in the future, especially after customer feedback. If you have an idea or solution for your organization, try out a small, simple version of the solution and see what works and what doesn’t.
Using MVP to rollout solutions for your organization –
- Benefits: Quicker, cheaper, efficient
- Challenges: hard to sell, lacks pizzazz, requires discipline
Examples:
- Healthcare: Provide a new service at one clinic and based on feedback and results roll out to remaining clinics
- Advertising: work with focus groups and smaller markets before you commit to bigger/expensive markets as part of your marketing strategy
- Automobiles: Concept cars shown at special event before investing massive time and money to retooling factories allow for collecting more market research
- Restaurants: Try certain menu items as a “special” before adding it to the main menu to see if they fit with your branding
- Retail: Update your inventory process at one store before you roll out to the rest of your storefronts
The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a product design concept that involves creating a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development. This approach can be applied to all industries and business types, as it allows for a cost-effective and efficient way to test and validate a product idea before investing significant time and resources.
In the healthcare industry, an MVP approach can be used to develop new medical devices or digital health solutions. For example, a startup developing a new wearable device to monitor blood glucose levels in diabetic patients could create an MVP that includes only basic features such as a sensor and a mobile app to display readings. This MVP can be tested with a small group of early adopters to gather feedback on usability and accuracy, which can be used to improve the product in future iterations.
For small business owners, an MVP approach can be used to launch a new product or service with limited resources. For example, a local coffee shop owner who wants to expand their business by offering online ordering and delivery services could create an MVP that includes only basic features such as a simple website and a delivery service. This MVP can be tested with a small group of customers to gather feedback on the ordering process and delivery experience, which can be used to improve the service in future iterations.
In summary, the MVP approach is a valuable product design concept that can be applied to all industries and business types. By creating a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and gather feedback, businesses can test and validate their product ideas in a cost-effective and efficient way.