liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
MVP: Minimum Viable Product vs. Maximum Value Product
Adam R.T. Smith, CEO / Director of Experience DesignLiquid Reality
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Adam R.T. SmithC.E.O. / Director of Experience Design
@liquidreality
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
state of mobile today
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
"The global apps business is expected to make $25 billion inrevenue this year, up 62% from a year ago, according to Gartner.To put that in perspective, movie theaters sold less than half thatdollar amount at the box office in 2012." - WSJ: Business of Apps / Gartner Research
crazy money
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
phenomenal growth
iOS App Store Google Play
Downloads 50 Billion + 48 Billion +
Total Apps 850,000 + 800,000 +
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
seems like we’re doing great, right?
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
that’s misleading...
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Too many apps with poor quality, flawed UX, thoughtless design
Another photo app, another social app, another game
Me-too’s, also-ran’s, and flat out imitators are crowding themarket
And users are noticing...
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
"Canalys estimates that just 25 developers accounted for 50% ofapp revenue in the US in these stores [Apple App Store & GooglePlay] during the first 20 days of November 2012. Between them,they made $60 million from paid-for downloads and in-apppurchases over this period." - Canalys, December 2012
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
most apps fail...
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
most apps suck.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
minimum viable product
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
in 2009, Eric Ries coines the term“Minimum Viable Product”
based on the unconventional processused to build IMVU
developed the methodology after acouple his previous startups failed
made a name for himself through hisbook, speaking & helping entrepreneurs
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
MVP methodology asks us to reach out to the market soonerthan ever before
private beta, a landing page, or an AdWords text ad
tries to get actionable feedback from the market as soon aspossible, as cheaply as possible
intended to validate a companies assumptions early & often
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
traditional roadmap
Learn
Analyze
Testing
Internal External
Build
Release 1.0
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
mvp roadmap
Learn
Analyze
Testing
Internal External
Build
Release 1.0
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
positioned as sitting in the middle of two opposing extremes:•
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
product development extremes
Blue Sky Super Build
Release Fast,
Release Often
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humanswhere mvp fits
Blue Sky Super Build
Release Fast,
Release Often
Minimum Viable
Product
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
unique in the way that it combines market testing right into theearliest prototyping and validation stages
intended to let the market tell you at each iteration, what they likeand don’t like, qualitatively and quantitatively
via in-product analytics tools like Flurry, Google Analytics, andLocalytics
solicited and unsolicited direct user feedback
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MVP is:
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
suggests you create something that can measure interest in theproblem you are trying to solve
and the way in which you are attempting to solve it
before you’ve solved it
it’s a learning process, in theory, with the primary goal ofgathering as much data, metrics, and analysis possible to figureout what works and what doesn’t
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
note: purist view of MVP is not intended to cater to the whims ofyour customers, but rather to run experiments on them and deriveyour own conclusions
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
the experiment, or series of experiments, in a Build-Measure-Learn loop, allows you to continually evolve your
product until it satisfactorily solves yourproblem, or your idea fails...
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
whichever comes first.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
benefits touted for MVP include:
the cost of user acquisition for traditional product launches can betremendously expensive, so adopting MVP lowers the cost of failingwith a product the market doesn’t want
benefit from testing with real, organic use cases. It’s out there inthe wild, used by real people in the real ways they will use yourproduct
low-hanging fruit is identified and checked off early. Easy pickingsfor quick fixes and obvious missteps
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
brings clarity to your business goals: re-prioritize and re-evaluaterealistic milestones
allows you to test your marketing initiatives: value propositions,and messaging at very early stages, and with each iteration.
allows you to generate early revenue, because nothing speakslouder than people giving you their hard earned money.
allows you to fail fast and often, and learn from your failings.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
not proven to provide any more value thanany other methodology, and can in fact
cause more harm than good.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
problems with MVP as a methodology
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
going to market too soon in order to validate your ideas andsolutions is lazy and disrespectful
a way to avoid facing the hard problems head on, workingthrough them to uncover the right solution, and building a greatproduct for your future customers.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
do your homework
really GET the problems your trying to solve
really GET what your target audience wants and needs at thedeepest level
are willing to put in the effort to really figure out what it is thatNEEDS to be solved
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if you:
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
you are far better equipped to solve those problems than randomusers who click on smoke-tests or sign up for private betas
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then:
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
with a minimal product that is incomplete,in flux, and doesn’t yet stand up to usersmaturing expectations, you’re asking themto have a lot of unsupported faith in yourcompany and your dedication to solving
their problems on their behalf
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
MVPs attract 3 types of users
the people that want to hate you from the get go, no matter whoyou are or what your product does
the people that want to love you and will tell you how much theyappreciate where your products going, but, won’t bother you withthe negative feedback
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
MVPs attract 3 types of users
in the middle, there’s those that genuinely care about the problemyou’re solving, your product and really want to help you help them.
this middle group is often the smallest, and their data is obscuredby the overly polarized data from the previous groups
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
actionable feedback doesn’t come from beta testers who wantto feel like they’re “in the loop”
it comes from users who care about your product, who believe inthe solution you are offering, who see that you’ve put in the timeto build something that caters to their needs
valuable feedback is inseparable from genuine care for theproduct
making product decisions based on the input from users thataren’t invested in the success of your product is potentiallydangerous.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
WANT your product
DESIRE your product
find it hard to imagine how they got by without it before it existed
can’t be done with a bare bones product cobbled together to testyour ideas
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users, even testers, need to:
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
In mvp, the user experience is oftenmissing, downplayed, or relegated to a
“future enhancement”
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
in creating something minimally viable,something that doesn’t feel whole, andopenly testing it in the market, you are
establishing a brand association with anincomplete, unfinished and unpolished
product
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
in order to get people in sufficient numbersto actually get valuable feedback, you have
to announce that you’re working onsomething so early in the process that it
alerts your competitors
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you showit to them.” - Steve Jobs
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have saidfaster horses.” - Henry Ford (although, it’s not proven he said this)
“Some people use research like a drunkard uses a lamppost: forsupport, not illumination.” - David Ogilvy
“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to gobeyond them into the impossible.” - Arthur C. Clark
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
worse still, is the misinterpretation of MVP
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
minimum viable product vs. minimum viable product
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
as a means to reduce time-to-market
many startups that look at MVP, see a fast, easy way to validatetheir ideas as cheaply as possible.
problem is, unless you find that your ideas fail REALLY early on inthe process, it is certainly not faster - it’s quite the opposite.
building in all this testing, analysis and learning into each iterationcan dramatically extend the development process - if you areactually learning from your inputs.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
as a means to reduce costs
similarly, using the mvp methodology isn’t cheaper, again, unlessyou fail early and abandon your idea.
in the long run, if you’re doing it right, you still have to do all thesame work you always do to create a new product.
including strategy, UX, design, and development.
but with the additional and potentially exponential costs of doing itin continuous iterative Build Measure Learn loops.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
as a go-to-market strategy
MVP is a validation and market testing strategy. It is not a go-to-market strategy.
in the long run, if you’re doing it right, you still have to do all thesame work you always do to create a new product.
including strategy, UX, design, and development.
but with the additional and potentially exponential costs of doing itin continuous iterative Build Measure Learn loops.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
intentional or not, MVP has created anenvironment where it's ok to fail
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
“Failing sooner is cheaper”.
“Failing on each iteration gives us insight to what users don’twant”.
“Sure we failed, but, we didn’t waste that much money”.
“Failing on v1.0 can’t be our fault, we’ve been testing this idea inthe market since day one. They must have lied to us”.
moves accountability for success off of the company, the startup,the team and onto the market itself.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
methodology of excuses
it wasn’t my idea.
it wasn’t built very well.
at least I knew when to call it a day.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
The pressures on startups & thepressures on new products are
significantly higher today than even just oneyear ago
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
aim for awesome
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
maximum value product
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
why?
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Because the iPhone solved3 critical problems, and
solved those 3 problemsexceptionally well.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
They chose to release the device withoutthe feature not because it wasn’t important
to the product, they chose to omit thefeature because it wasn’t “just right”.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
The iPhone delivered the maximum valueproduct possible within the constraints
Apple faced by focussing only on what itcould do exceptionally well, and setting
aside that which it couldn't.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
A product is like an ecosystem. Every feature or function youintroduce, or remove, has a direct impact on every other part ofyour product.
Being able to cut something when it doesn’t stand up to yourquality standards is more difficult than cutting a feature when yourun out of time or budget.
You are consciously removing something from your product thatyou may have working in some fashion, but is bringing theexperience and quality of everything else you have done down.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Cut it like cancer. You’re product is only asgood as its worst interaction.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Diving in deep, and digging until no more can be dug to uncoverthose 3 or 4 fundamental problems that your product needs tosolve is fundamental to creating maximum value products.
Every product starts with an idea, but that idea is usuallyamorphous, and leans more towards the solution end of thespectrum.
You have to really uncover what those problems that generatethe need for that solution are, and they are not always obvious, oreven logical.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
How do you know when you’vediscovered one those fundamental
problems?
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Once you have your fundamental problems, it is usually quite clearwhich ones are your critical pillars.
Those are the ones you focus on, those are the ones you put yourall into solving and solving completely.
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critical pillars
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Maximum Value is not about creating valuethrough building more features
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
it’s about maximizing the value within thefeatures you do build.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Whereas minimum viable productpromotes doing only what is necessary to
be viable
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
maximum value product promotes doing only that which you can
do exceptionally well.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
MVPs compared
Minimum Viable Product Maximum Value Product
places focus on validating the solutionsto your problems
places focus on validating the problemsyou are trying to solve
tells you to use the market to solveyour problems
maximum tells you to solve yourproblems FOR your market
aims to create an environment whereyou can fail safely
aims to create an environment whereyou can face the hard problems head on
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
MVPs compared
Minimum Viable Product Maximum Value Product
is doing only what is necessary to beviable
is doing only that which you can makeawesome
often sidelines the small things, theniceties, the polish
specifically focusses on the small things,the niceties, the details the polish
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Maximum Value Product is
about spending the time and effort upfront to distill the problemsyou are hoping to solve down to their most fundamental cores. Then solving those, and nothing more.
about respecting your customers by putting in the time, putting inthe effort, and facing the hard problems head on before you ask fortheir time or money.
about having the passion, the love, the willingness to sacrifice, andthe faith in yourself and your team to persevere in the face of whatseems impossible.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Maximum Value Product is
about finding the right product gestalt, it’s soul, and neverwavering.
about knowing which solutions you can execute phenomenally,and focussing your efforts on those.
about knowing what you can’t execute phenomenally. And beingwilling to hold back anything that isn’t. Including your entireproduct if need be.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Maximum Value Product is
about sweating the small stuff. Obsessively.
about believing that quality trumps features in the long run.
about Not using your customers as lab rats.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Because you sweat the small stuff. And when you do something,
you do it right.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
You need to be obsessively concernedabout the small things, the in-betweens,the transient states - these are the areas
where greatness hides.
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
when it all comes down to it, it’s all about the details, theniceties, the design, the user experience, the optimizations, theperformance.
these are the things that create desirability, these are the thingsthat create loyalty, these are the things that tell your customer yourespect them.
these are also the things that are generally the first to getsidelined in an MVP, because they are intangible, hard to quantify,and even harder to measure.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
doing anything exceptionally well is hard. and doing it exceptionally well takes time,dedication, love, passion and a touch of
insanity
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
working towards maximum value
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Slow down. People want to start working too soon. Figure outwhat core problems you’re really solving first.
Focus on your problem, not your solution.
Set your bar high and early. Always be working towardsawesome, even if you don’t get there, you’ll be better off than ifyou’re focussed on the minimal.
Face the hard problems head on. Attack them. Dissect them.Get everyone talking about them.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
break down the walls created by roles & disciplines and just besmart people trying to solve the same problem together
involve all key team members as early as possible andcontinuously, especially when uncovering the problems you aretrying to solve, and the ways you intend to solve them
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Embrace your constraints (time / money / resources) todetermine what problems you can solve in a complete andawesome way.
You don't have to solve every problem, but you do have to solveevery problem in the most amazing and holistic way you can.
If you can't do something awesome, don't do it at all.
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liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Critical Pillars•
critical pillars
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Staged Roadmap•
staged roadmap
liquidrealitydesign for humans
liquidrealitydesign for humans
Staged Roadmap•
cut, kill, can ruthlessly