MVP development
Step 1
Idea Check (CustDev)
Product creation always starts with an idea. The idea generally evolves from a hobby or professional activity. As the sphere is well-known, the pain or solution opportunity is easy to identify.
target audience DEFINITION
Despite personal ambitions, it is extremely important to check the idea for market demand in the very beginning. The easiest way to do this is to interview potential customers. Meantime the following rules should be adhered:
divide the audience into users of the product and customers who pay for it. These roles are not always the same because of different motivations (e.g, corporate software will be actively used by employees, but the decision to purchase it will be made by CEO)
evaluate users’ interest
test a user-friendly business model
To collect the most in-depth and high-quality feedback, it is
necessary to define the product’s functionality and its main
advantages clearly.
At this stage, our team will help:
- to define a basic set of functions
- to pick the audience of users out
- to represent goals and objectives for CustDev analysis
- to prepare CustDev questionnaire (forms for analytics collection, a system for automatic analysis)
As a result, the consumers will estimate the idea, and the decision
about development will be made.
The duration of the step is 2-8 weeks (depending on the size
of the product).
We will not only help in the implementation of the idea at each stage, but also form a cohesive team that will launch the product on time and support it throughout the life cycle. As a result, in 15 - 56 weeks of collaboration the product will be launched, and the idea will become a business.
Step 2
Prototyping & Design
After CustDev is conducted and the decision about the development is made, there’s a stage of SOW creation and basic product architecture prototyping.
Working with our team on the first stage means having functional requirements stated and basic prototype
created by the beginning of the second stage. The matter is that we can create Technical Specification in
accordance with the results of CustDev.
The importance of this step is as follows
an accurate and complete image of the product is formed, and the time and cost of the development are assessed
the development team is formed
These factors not only affect further development positively but also save the resources significantly. The philosophy of our team is to integrate the client with the development team, which allows developing a communication format for the most effective cooperation. The duration of the step is 3 – 6 weeks.
We will not only help in the implementation of the idea at each stage, but also form a cohesive team that will launch the product on time and support it throughout the life cycle. As a result, in 15 - 56 weeks of collaboration the product will be launched, and the idea will become a business.
Step 3
Development
We use the Scrum framework to develop products. It allows us to identify all the weaknesses and make the necessary changes in the early stages.
The development team together with client plans sprints – short stages (about 2 weeks) during which a certain block of work is performed. The breakdown of the project into sprints allows
not only to evaluate the implementation period but also to track the overall result of each sprint.
The number of sprints is agreed with the client, and a certain amount of resources is allocated for each sprint.
Thus it is possible to predict the development budget and control deviations.
How it works
For example, according to the results of decomposition of the project we figured out:
4 sprints
200 hours per sprint
20 USD / hour - dev rate
4 000 USD - sprint budget
16 000 USD - total project budget
At the end of each sprint, the team can evaluate deviations from the plan. If the sprint is completed by 90%, the project budget will increase by about 400 USD. If the sprint is completed by 110%, then the budget will reduce by 400 USD.
Thanks to this system, the client can predict any changes in the cost of the project for each sprint.
The duration of the step is 8 - 40 weeks.
We will not only help in the implementation of the idea at each stage, but also form a cohesive team that will launch the product on time and support it throughout the life cycle. As a result, in 15 - 56 weeks of collaboration the product will be launched, and the idea will become a business.
Step 4
Launch & Promotion
After the development is completed, the product will be launched. This should be done along with promotional materials: landing page, promotional pages in stores, banners and more.
Preparation for launch and presentation to customers is one of the most important steps since the right start attracts the first loyal audience.
For some products, it is recommended to start this step during the last sprints: this allows to attract users before the product is released, so the first 300-1000 users will be able to give feedback by the time of launch. It is also recommended to conduct 1 - 2 short-term advertising campaigns in order to draw attention to the product beforehand. The duration of the step is 2-4 weeks. It is also worth focusing on promotion of the product and collection feedback from users over the next 8-12 weeks.
We will not only help in the implementation of the idea at each stage, but also form a cohesive team that will launch the product on time and support it throughout the life cycle. As a result, in 15 - 56 weeks of collaboration the product will be launched, and the idea will become a business.
Step 5
Support & Extension
When the product is launched, and the first feedback from users is collected, ideas on improvement and extension come over.
In this case, you may need:
– a technical team that will be responsible for support of existing functionality
– a development team that will create new features.
The support and development processes are carried out throughout the life cycle of the product.
We will not only help in the implementation of the idea at each stage, but also form a cohesive team that will launch the product on time and support it throughout the life cycle. As a result, in15 - 56 weeks of collaboration the product will be launched, and the idea will become a business.