The Role of Product Design in MVP Development
Introduction
The most appropriate thing that any startup founder can do is to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in case he or she wants to test his or her business idea and create a successful product within a short period of time. How then do we address the development of MVP? How do other industries develop an MVP that does its job? Product Design Process is one of the best-proven techniques that assist in product development among clients. This paper will discuss the Product Design Process in order to demonstrate its usefulness in the development of MVP or enhancing already created digital products.
Defining the Product Design Process
In simple terms, Product Design Process is also a vital component of the process that a software development team follows in order to assist its product teams in gathering and defining a requirement and prototype and test the solution with the end-users. With its structure, we have the power to determine how the product or service that we shall construct will appear in future. We will have a closer look at each of its stages.
The Product Design Process provides a structured approach to MVP development that reduces risks and increases chances of market success.
A Roadmap of MVP Success
Phase 1: Understanding Business Fundamentals
This step will ensure that the client is identified by degree of expertise and that they would evaluate their business fundamentals through performance consistency. Typically, it entails a Project Manager or Product Designer and little group participation.
Questions to Ask in the Early Stages
- Is the vision clear and consistent?
- Does it have clear and realistic business objectives?
- Does the client have an idea of what they want of us?
- To what extent is the client ready in business perspective (business model and product strategy, competition)?
- What has been done until now?
- What can we use?
- What needs to be done? In which areas?
- What are the budget, time and scope limitations?
- What are the technological weaknesses and opportunities? This step can take 1 to 3 days to be done depending on the complexity of the product. The main task of this stage is to examine the data presented by the client and obtained during the last stage, along with research.
Developing a Winning Product Strategy
This sub-phase may be in the form of workshops in case there are areas that should be demystified. Some of the questions we tend to ask ourselves would be:
- How do other competitors position themselves in the market?
- What needs of the customers do they serve?
- What are some of the problems they solve and how well they are performing it?
- Which are the industry best practices?
- What are the ways people approach resolving the problem that the product is supposed to solve?
- Is there a clear definition of the value proposition?
- Are we segmented, targeted and product positioned?
- What partner should we collaborate with in order to provide smooth user service?
- Are we aware of the extent of MVP level of quality?
- What will we use to measure the success of the project?
- What are we going to use to quantify business success?
- What is the ways we know that we are moving in the right direction?
Start Your MVP Journey Today
Ready to build your MVP? Our proven design process ensures market-ready products.
Get StartedPhase 2: Defining Requirements and Ideating Solutions
Phase 2: Defining Requirements and Ideating Solutions of Your MVP
In this phase, we collect requirements and ideas of solutions. The functional and non-functional requirements are what we start compiling as a project backlog. It is also at this point that we begin to brainstorm the solutions that would provide the solutions to the requirements. Key questions we tend to pose:
- What areas does the requirements and ideas to the solutions cover well?
- Which features are must-have?
- What are the fundamental requirements of the value propositions?
- What is the number of resources that they will use?
- Which solution will provide greater business value?
- What technologies can help us to build the solution we desire?
- Which constraints are surrounding the platforms which we desire to base our solutions?
- What do you consider to be the critical areas in terms of providing the best user experience?
- What is the coverage of the solution against a requirement?
- Is it hard to implement?
- Who will be the estimated end-users of the product?
- Why, how, and with what is their interaction?
- What do our users typical have as pain points and needs?
- How can we map them?
- What will be the least number of features that will enable us to provide a value proposition with a smooth experience?
- What did we miss previously?
- What will we do to continue with the design?
- What are the risk areas that are more prone and what are the magnitude of risks?
- How can we mitigate them?
Phase 3: Designing, Prototyping, and Testing
This stage is normally broken down into three sub-stages. All of them are designed to provide a more detailed view of the final product.
Fast-track to Feedback: The Paper Prototyping in MVP Design
This sub-stage is devoted to the fast-track prototyping and testing the solutions - and reworking according to the received feedbacks. It touches on all the stakeholders.
Low-Fidelity Prototype: Making the Way to User-Centric MVP Design
Here is where the design team makes the first time that they develop a full system (application). We discuss all the user scenarios of the MVP in the presentation and demonstrate how they are represented in system logic and user interface. We also get feedback after the presentation. At this sub-phase, user testing is normally suggested.
Reaching the Vision: Finished with a High-Fidelity Prototype - The Last Stage before Development
The design team shows the final appearance and the appearance of the new product. Here is the last aspect upon which it begins to develop.
Test wherever you can! With this in mind, along with the client we are able to establish what, when and whom we are going to test the design.
Phase 4: The Prototypes to Reality
Phase 4: The Prototypes to Reality
When the stakeholders are satisfied with the high-fidelity prototype, then the team can create the MVP. However, you may have to revise the roadmap and the product backlog before the developers go to write the code. After the product backlog is prepared, the team is able to develop a sprint backlog based on it and it makes a promise to complete a specified amount of tasks in each sprint.
Conclusion
Why is the Product Design Process so Important to the Success of MVP Development?
Product Design Process is a strategic guide on how to create a Minimum Viable Product and in doing so, remove risks at each phase of the product development, all the way through the end. It makes teams pose the right questions in the right times to avoid the usual traps of bad product-market fit. To sum up, the Product Design Process is much more than a best practice, that it is a game-changer that will make your MVP more likely to not only make it to the market, but also succeed once there.
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Introduction
The most appropriate thing that any startup founder can do is to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in case he or she wants to test his or her business idea and create a successful product within a short period of time. How then do we address the development of MVP? How do other industries develop an MVP that does its job? Product Design Process is one of the best-proven techniques that assist in product development among clients. This paper will discuss the Product Design Process in order to demonstrate its usefulness in the development of MVP or enhancing already created digital products.
Defining the Product Design Process
In simple terms, Product Design Process is also a vital component of the process that a software development team follows in order to assist its product teams in gathering and defining a requirement and prototype and test the solution with the end-users. With its structure, we have the power to determine how the product or service that we shall construct will appear in future. We will have a closer look at each of its stages.
The Product Design Process provides a structured approach to MVP development that reduces risks and increases chances of market success.
A Roadmap of MVP Success
Phase 1: Understanding Business Fundamentals
This step will ensure that the client is identified by degree of expertise and that they would evaluate their business fundamentals through performance consistency. Typically, it entails a Project Manager or Product Designer and little group participation.
Questions to Ask in the Early Stages
- Is the vision clear and consistent?
- Does it have clear and realistic business objectives?
- Does the client have an idea of what they want of us?
- To what extent is the client ready in business perspective (business model and product strategy, competition)?
- What has been done until now?
- What can we use?
- What needs to be done? In which areas?
- What are the budget, time and scope limitations?
- What are the technological weaknesses and opportunities? This step can take 1 to 3 days to be done depending on the complexity of the product. The main task of this stage is to examine the data presented by the client and obtained during the last stage, along with research.
Developing a Winning Product Strategy
This sub-phase may be in the form of workshops in case there are areas that should be demystified. Some of the questions we tend to ask ourselves would be:
- How do other competitors position themselves in the market?
- What needs of the customers do they serve?
- What are some of the problems they solve and how well they are performing it?
- Which are the industry best practices?
- What are the ways people approach resolving the problem that the product is supposed to solve?
- Is there a clear definition of the value proposition?
- Are we segmented, targeted and product positioned?
- What partner should we collaborate with in order to provide smooth user service?
- Are we aware of the extent of MVP level of quality?
- What will we use to measure the success of the project?
- What are we going to use to quantify business success?
- What is the ways we know that we are moving in the right direction?
Start Your MVP Journey Today
Ready to build your MVP? Our proven design process ensures market-ready products.
Get StartedPhase 2: Defining Requirements and Ideating Solutions
Phase 2: Defining Requirements and Ideating Solutions of Your MVP
In this phase, we collect requirements and ideas of solutions. The functional and non-functional requirements are what we start compiling as a project backlog. It is also at this point that we begin to brainstorm the solutions that would provide the solutions to the requirements. Key questions we tend to pose:
- What areas does the requirements and ideas to the solutions cover well?
- Which features are must-have?
- What are the fundamental requirements of the value propositions?
- What is the number of resources that they will use?
- Which solution will provide greater business value?
- What technologies can help us to build the solution we desire?
- Which constraints are surrounding the platforms which we desire to base our solutions?
- What do you consider to be the critical areas in terms of providing the best user experience?
- What is the coverage of the solution against a requirement?
- Is it hard to implement?
- Who will be the estimated end-users of the product?
- Why, how, and with what is their interaction?
- What do our users typical have as pain points and needs?
- How can we map them?
- What will be the least number of features that will enable us to provide a value proposition with a smooth experience?
- What did we miss previously?
- What will we do to continue with the design?
- What are the risk areas that are more prone and what are the magnitude of risks?
- How can we mitigate them?
Phase 3: Designing, Prototyping, and Testing
This stage is normally broken down into three sub-stages. All of them are designed to provide a more detailed view of the final product.
Fast-track to Feedback: The Paper Prototyping in MVP Design
This sub-stage is devoted to the fast-track prototyping and testing the solutions - and reworking according to the received feedbacks. It touches on all the stakeholders.
Low-Fidelity Prototype: Making the Way to User-Centric MVP Design
Here is where the design team makes the first time that they develop a full system (application). We discuss all the user scenarios of the MVP in the presentation and demonstrate how they are represented in system logic and user interface. We also get feedback after the presentation. At this sub-phase, user testing is normally suggested.
Reaching the Vision: Finished with a High-Fidelity Prototype - The Last Stage before Development
The design team shows the final appearance and the appearance of the new product. Here is the last aspect upon which it begins to develop.
Test wherever you can! With this in mind, along with the client we are able to establish what, when and whom we are going to test the design.
Phase 4: The Prototypes to Reality
Phase 4: The Prototypes to Reality
When the stakeholders are satisfied with the high-fidelity prototype, then the team can create the MVP. However, you may have to revise the roadmap and the product backlog before the developers go to write the code. After the product backlog is prepared, the team is able to develop a sprint backlog based on it and it makes a promise to complete a specified amount of tasks in each sprint.
Conclusion
Why is the Product Design Process so Important to the Success of MVP Development?
Product Design Process is a strategic guide on how to create a Minimum Viable Product and in doing so, remove risks at each phase of the product development, all the way through the end. It makes teams pose the right questions in the right times to avoid the usual traps of bad product-market fit. To sum up, the Product Design Process is much more than a best practice, that it is a game-changer that will make your MVP more likely to not only make it to the market, but also succeed once there.
