How to Design a Mobile Application in 5 Steps - Part 4
Creating an MVP
📅 2020.06.16 - 👤 Borbély Viktor
This is part 4 of my 5-part “How to Design a Mobile Application in 5 Steps” article series. In the previous part, we discussed UI design. In this part, we will talk about creating the earliest presentable product initiative.
Creating an MVP
The Minimal Valuable Product (nowadays MLP = Minimal Lovable Product has also raised its head) is such a small product initiative that already stands on its own feet. It can only do one or two things, but those for sure. It delivers what it promises. It’s important to keep in mind the “function over form” principle. It’s okay if it’s a bit ugly, but let it work. Of course, there are design weaknesses that negatively affect usability, but I won’t touch on these now.
Think about the fact that the tailor doesn’t give you the finished suit at the end when it can no longer be modified. They invite you to a fitting when the material is already roughly basted together, but can still be modified. You yourself will have different expectations regarding such a semi-finished garment. The chalk mark from the cutting is still visible. Threads stick out, but you can abstract from these in your mind. Will it be comfortable? The color I was thinking of? Will the neckline be as big at the front as I dreamed?
Okay, the point is understandable. We build our starter product from small steps. In cycles of a few weeks (iterations), we refine and test it with different groups. How long should an iteration be? Well, opinions differ here, but it’s worth thinking in weekly breakdowns. From this, the shortest should be 1 week, but not exceed 4 weeks. This is still a foreseeable amount of functionality that can be tracked. This largely depends on your own or the team’s rhythm. I follow 2-week versioning, which has worked so far. This way it’s sufficiently snappy, but there’s still time to catch your breath. This even includes if a patch (sudden fix) needs to be released in the meantime.
Testing, feedback
The MVP can be given to acquaintances, friends, family to get their hands on. You can organize demonstration events, interviews where you can collect important feedback. If you can arrange it, record on video the user’s first encounter with your product. You can learn a lot from it. Write down the questions. You will see that a pattern will emerge from this.
With how many people should this be done? In the profession, the average of 3-7 interviews usually proves sufficient. This reveals the main errors that weren’t obvious to you during development. If you can, choose as varied personalities as possible from your target audience, thus you comprehensively cover your future market. Summarizing the findings, these also determine the next period’s development plan. This is already feedback from the real user community, which from now on is not built on guesses (empirical method).
In the next, final part, application publication will be on the table. If you liked this part, subscribe to the newsletter to be notified about new parts. I’m curious about your opinion, write to me!