Hints for further MVP development
MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. This means that you (hired company) build the product with only the minimum but absolutely essential set of features. It doesn’t mean the app is unfinished or not functional. It helps to validate the most important purposes of the product. What should happen after releasing the MVP? As the owner of the app you should check its performance: if the MVP’s targets, goals and intentions are accomplished. Then, decide whether you should develop the mobile app further or not. By further MVP development I mean adding new features or changing some, as well as (possibly) modifying the designs.
Once you have made the decision to take action and improve the product, this article will give a couple of hints on what to do next. You’ll also get to know what you should think about before you proceed.
Should you even proceed with the MVP development?
First thing to do is think about it — why do you want to proceed with MVP development? There are a few reasons why it’s worth trying:
- When you want to develop your product because it has a chance to be successful on the market. You also need to have an idea to change it in a way that will improve its performance. Testing the viability of your idea is very important here.
- When your product has already been successful but you need a more advanced solution to serve more users.
There are certain conditions that you have to fulfil to proceed with further MVP development. Firstly, you have to be sure that your app actually can be developed. Also, you need to have a team or a partner who is determined to do this. MVP development cannot be an act of desperation, because then it won’t help you in any way.
Spend some time with the analyst to do the market research again. Check if your competition and target audience has changed, make a development plan, a roadmap. Don’t be afraid to use someone’s help but also be involved in this research. You have to be sure that your idea does have a chance to be successful. An experienced team will help you with that, but can’t take responsibility for the decision to develop the app. At a glance, make sure that your product will be positioned around what the customer values and needs. More about this in How to proceed with mobile app development.
What you should know about your future mobile app
What to do after the analysis and after deciding about the MVP development? You should focus on giving your feedback to the team and providing documentation of the project. Everything depends on the purpose of your project. These are the examples of questions you would be asked by us at FiveDotTwelve before the development:
- Is your MVP concurrent to the app you want to obtain when the project is finished?
- Are you keeping the features the same but improved or do you want to change them?
- Do you want to stick with the current design or do you want to create a new one?
- Who is your target audience?
- Do you have any documentation?
It can also be done if you want to change most of the features and the design during further MVP development. But in this case, remember to go back to what was said above. You need to make a deep analysis to check if the idea for your product is good. It’s also important to know that having ready-made designs doesn’t mean that the team will start the development straightaway. Designers need to check them e.g. in terms of error states, empty states and differences between platforms. From a technological point of view, it all affects the choice of technology. Then, the team has to check if it’s possible to use the code in which the MVP was written. And if so, they can proceed with the development.
You can also take advantage of the reviews from users. Aren’t they the most important here? Taking their opinions into account is even obligatory, I would say. Because if you succeed to meet their expectations, they’ll keep using the app and they’ll recommend it further. User feedback can be really helpful when it comes to the product idea. It can help you identify users’ needs so you’ll get to know what core features the MVP should have.
Who’s going to build my MVP?
Can the further MVP development be conducted by the same people who released it? Well, if you’re satisfied with their service, then why not? Let’s commission this task to the same team, after they assure that they’re able to do that, of course. Still, it’s not necessary to stay with the same team or company. If something was wrong or if you simply want to see a different approach, you can find a different one. Maybe to develop your product, or maybe just to present you with a different idea that might inspire you.
Let’s say you decide to hire a new team to implement new features to your MVP. The first thing you need to do is provide the whole documentation from your project. Then, if everything is fine, you can start proceeding with the analyses and get to work. However, there are several cases in which the team might refuse to develop the MVP. They can offer to rewrite it. This might happen e.g. if your application is too old. Also if the technology used for the development is not supported anymore. We treat each client with MVP and willingness to develop it differently and individually. So you can just drop us a note and ask for advice anytime.
