Building products using MVP

As a Product Manager I care about solving real problems that real people experience.  I'm focused on learning what their problems are and determining how I can solve those problems in order to delight them.  The process I apply to uncover real problems utilises the MVP mindset and has validated learning at it's heart, not features.   

What is a MVP?

The name 'Minimum Viable Product' is a bit of a misnomer really.  To me, it's the least you can do to learn something specific that you're investigating.  That may be part of the finished product - or it may not.  A famous example is Dropbox who needed to confirm if people would want to use and pay for a file syncing application.  Their challenge was that its impossible to demonstrate the working software in a prototype form. The product required that they overcome significant technical hurdles; it also had an online service component that required high reliability and availability. To avoid the risk of waking up after years of development with a product nobody wanted, they did something  unexpectedly easy: they made a video.

Lots of people have already talked about MVPs - the best I've read recently is this.  As I hinted at above, this is a process of validated learning so for me MVP is the Minimum Viable Process to learn who your customer is, what their problem is and how you will address it.

A Garden Swing Set - MVP Style

We have a small swing in the back garden for our children but they are outgrowing it now and not getting as much enjoyment out of it.  The existing swing also has a significant flaw - it's not level (the garden is on a slope) which hampers swinging.  Our youngest gets scared when the swing starts going a bit sideways!  We know our children love swings and the such so we decided to get a bigger swing set.  Of course I applied the MVP process of validated learning to this endeavor!

A PMs approach

Before beginning any construction I tried to identify as many risks as I could up front.  To me the biggest risk was that any new swing would not be level - the same flaw hampering the existing swing.  This issue has the potential to render the entire project a failure.  Other questions that were considered included whether we just get a swing or something that includes other activities such as a slide.  We noted our children enjoyed and used other play equipment at parks and went for a garden swing set that included a slide.   The project has to deliver before a birthday, so there's a hard, unmovable release date.   My work is to de-risk the project and learn by doing, i.e. validated learning.

My first MVP - experiment to learn something was to see if I can ensure the construction is level.  Out came the spade to start digging to level the ground -  and quickly discovered that the ground is incredibly rocky.  In other words it was a harder, slower task than I anticipated. In fact I resorted to a pick ax to do the work.    I want a high quality outcome to the final product so I decided to follow the recommendations and anchor the whole structure in concrete.  Here's my first MVP.  Note how an MVP does not equal the first release.

An MVP may not be your first release

To get this far required some construction of the swing set.  More obstacles presented themselves here.  The instructions are a dodgy translation from another language.  The instructions aren't very 'IKEA like' - they aren't very clear or easy to follow.  They also direct you to build the entire thing and then anchor it into concrete.  I assembled the basic frame, constantly checking if the top cross-bar was level.

Yes the ground really was that rocky!

First Release

The MVP proved to be a success: The entire set was level and that massive risk has been dealt with.  It was then time to build on that learning and add actually begin building the swing set.   By now there are a couple of eager, anxious "customers" hassling me every day to see when can they start playing on it.  I reverted to following the instructions and the first 'feature' to be delivered was in fact the slide.  It turns out a slide also really, really needs the entire construction to be level too!   

This was the first release, which also completed most of the 'construction'.  There are still swings to be attached and have their length adjusted to the right height, plus a swing seat to be assembled, and the ground needs new turf laid but all of that can come later.   The first release has built on the MVP to deliver something of value and high quality (level and safe) to the users.   They can play on that while I iterate to deliver more 'features'.   Iterating to add more value each time proved to have an interesting effect in that each addition got the "customers" pretty excited and they loved playing with the latest addition.

By the time the 'release date' (birthday party came around, I had the slide and two swings delivered, plus new turf on the ground.  The final swing seat wasn't yet ready - but it turns out that was ok because there was more than enough fun to be had with what was available.   The finished product ended up like this.

Summary

Hopefully I've helped demonstrate what a MVP is - the least effort to get you some validated learning - and that it's a process, not a once-and-done thing.  An MVP may (or may not) be the foundation of your product, and may (or may not) be your first release.

My first scoping session

I recently held my first scoping session.  On reflection, it went pretty well and was a decent start, where I gained much insight into the goals of the project, and also gave me some learnings that I can focus on for improvement in the future.

I'm partnering with Pivotal Labs to help with the transformation to an agile company and to learn about the Product Manager role.  The project I'm working on has had a  lot of great user research and analysis already conducted, with a prototype build to gather user feedback and help clarify what it truly needed to satisfy our goals.  This all occured outside of CompoZed (the transformation group within my company) so the people driving that effort are key stakeholders.

Positives

Decisive

XP Scoping sessions are decisive!   Starting with the goals and getting a shared understanding of what the project is aiming to deliver ensures a razor sharp focus.  For me this meant a discussion about the prototype and how it addressed several different problems, and then getting agreement on which one we would focus on for now.  The focus is very much on what we can do and how we can deliver real value - based on our understanding at this point in time of what is valuable.

Speed of progress

Scoping sessions are a great means of moving quickly, getting buy in from business stakeholders and technology, and reaching a common understanding.  They exude progress and positivity.

Engaging and Stimulating

Scoping sessions generate a lot of energy.  They build excitement.  My first words after the meeting ended were "This is a great project!"  Everyone in my location came away enthused and excited - primarily because we can see action and progress to address a real issue, and believe we will deliver quickly to address that issue.

Learnings

Involve all stakeholders

The scoping session didn't include all stakeholders.  Several different stakeholder areas were included, but not all.   This was due to scheduling restrictions and the time frames I've had to work within, and its far from ideal.  It will require additional work to engage other stakeholders, and there is the issue that they have not all discussed things together in one big group - so there is the risk of divergent understandings and priorities.  I'll have to manage this and mitigate it as I go.

Personas

I didn't flesh out all the personas - due to the compressed timeframe of the meeting.  Whilst the stakeholders present were familiar with the various impacted user groups, personas could have uncovered further goals or points that needed consideration.

Didn't capture assumptions and questions

This is a biggie.  I largely missed this, and it will require me to circle back to stakeholders to clarify and ensure we've a shared understanding of what assumptions there are.  I'll also need to seek answers from our stakeholders.

Risk List seems short

So the elephant in the room was our dependency upon legacy systems and the speed at which they can implement services we require to deliver our minimum viable product.   Beyond that, we seem to be light on risks.  This smells of inexperience to me!

Not very interactive

Scoping sessions often involve lots of scribbling on post its, cards, etc and engage everyone very interactively.  My scoping session was split across multiple locations with only an audio link up between them - not even video.  Whilst some in my location were capturing stuff on post its and cards, I didn't refer to them or engage in any prioritisation.

Summary

All in all, I know a lot more about the project, and I gained that insight faster than traditional company methods.  Plenty of scope for improvement in future scoping sessions (and I can refer to this list in the future to guide me on where I need to focus my efforts).

Great Expectations

Today I embarked on a new adventure into the world of Agile (XP) and the role of Product Manager.  

Coming to it as an architect I’m used to trying to influence technical decisions for “the greater good” of the organization.  That sometimes means putting constraints on a project that prevent or hinder it from following its preferred, optimal approach.  XP seems to be radically different.  I’m nervous.  I’m also sceptical – highly sceptical to be honest – of one aspect in particular - zero documentation.   Other aspects I’m sold and all in on.  I’m mega excited and thrilled to have the chance to do this – and do it right, not some watered down, half-baked offering typically produced by a corporate.   I never expected to see my employer working in this way.  Expectations have been challenged.  I love learning and I’m desperate to pick up new skills – to grow.  Hopes and dreams, already high before today are now stratospheric.  This is career changing stuff.

Today was Compozed Accelerator Labs - day 1.  Fabulous.  It was primarily about people, not technology.  I love that.  I love the human element to XP.  Perhaps the P of XP should refer to “People”.  XP claims that Respect is one of its values.  That claim stands up.  We had a fun personality profiling session.  I’d done it before, and hoped we would do it in Compozed but I didn’t think we would.  More expectations challenged.  The other Product Manager came out with the opposite personality profile from me.  My weaknesses are her strengths.  How cool is that?  I’m amazed and grateful that I learned this on day 1, rather than taking months of working together to realise it.

Senior management spoke from the heart about their vision, commitment and desire to see this succeed.  They took extra time to field questions – genuine concern for people.  Clear, strong support and buy in.  A real confidence booster.  They’re even looking to see how management can adopt XP – so they must believe in it.

I started today, baggage and all, excited and with great expectations.  I’ve been challenged – to aim higher and dream bigger.   Hope is rising. 

Roll on tomorrow!