minimum viable product (MVP), Lean Startup, and Story Maps.
The research paper is about minimum viable product (MVP), Lean Startup, and Story Maps. What are they and how are they interrelated? Thoughts coming from sources, either directly quoted or paraphrased, must be cited using the APA Style of writing
This research paper should be no more than 12 pages in length, excluding cover page, table of contents, references and appendix (if you think is required). In addition to the textbooks by Howard Podeswa (The Agile Guide to Business Analysis and Planning: From Strategic Plan to Continuous Value Delivery, by Howard Podeswa, Pearson Addison-Wesley, Pearson Education, Inc. 2021, ISBN-13: 978-0-13- 419112-6) (Chapter 7, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 18), Eric Brechner (Chapter 3), and which is required you must also use a minimum of five (5) different sources of information to support your work.
You must comply with the APA Style of writing.
The paper must include the following sections (with clearly marked bold headers for each section below):
1. Overview of MVP and its types – Origin and types
2. Overview of Lean Startup – Origin and the process
3. Overview of Story Mapping – Origin and functions
4. Why and how Leap of Faith and MVPs are critical tools in the lean startup approach
5. How MVPs and Story Mapping complement Each Other
Your main reference for this research paper should primarily be the textbook written by Howard Podeswa. In particular, Chapters 7, 12, 13, 18 (not necessarily the entire chapters but definitely some sections of these chapters relate to these research questions). Consequently, you need to study this textbook, use it as a guidance and main reference to do your research paper and in doing so for the required five (5) additional sources you may use the sources that Podeswa has used and are cited in those chapters. However, you cannot use the exact quotations that Podeswa has cited in his book. You need to do your own digging.
( This is a link so you can have access to the book for free for 10 days “START YOUR FREE TRIAL”:
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/the-agile-guide/9780134191164/
)
Running head: Research Paper (MVPs, Lean Startup and Story Map) 1
Research Paper (MVPs, Lean Startup and Story Map) 19
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College of Business and Information Technology
INT7563 Agile Project Management
Research Paper (MVPs, Lean Startup and Story Map)
Agile Project Management
INT7563
Basmah Samkari
Professor:, Ph.D.
Lawrence Technological University
Add the Table of Contents
· Introduction
It is the wish of each entrepreneur to launch a fully functioning product that has replied to all issues discovered during the market interview process. However, the product will never be perfect despite the validation and research done. There are several practical approaches to ensuring that the product meets the required standards. The best of them is giving out the product to the customers to start using it. Then make periodic incremental improvements based on the feedback you from the research and receivecustomers. This paper will critically discuss the origins of the minimum viable product (MVP), Lean sStartups, and Story Mappings. BesidesAdditionally, it will discuss how MVPs and Story mapping complement each other. Furthermore, it will discuss why and how a leap of faith and MVPs are critical tools in the Lean Start-up approach.
· Overview of MVP and its types
It is not easy for a company to make a startup scene in recent times due to many companies that compete against each other (this is a vague statement!). Therefore, for a company to be in a position to build a product as early as possible that customers want as early as possible, the company should go for the minimum viable product approach. This approach was coined conceived and explained in 2001 by Frank Robinson and was later publicized by Steve Blank and Eric Ries. Frank described this concept as a new product that allows organizations to learn more about customer needs and preferences earlier with the least effort (P & S, 2020). An organization does this by delivering products with minimal features to early adopters to gather feedback that will enable the company to build a product that will remain viable for future users. This approach is essential since it doesn’t negate the need for market research and other customer response methods such as win-loss analysis and focus groups. (It appears this whole section is a direct quote!)
You probably need to run the paper through the “Assignment Review for Plagiarism,” feature which is available in the Assignments section of the Canvas. You need to know what percentage of it is attributed to other sources but you!
Besides, itIt enables a business to understand the problems it needs to solve, but it doesn’t address every issue at once. But instead, the approach requires the company to solve the most fundamental issues and gather feedback to maximize learning while minimizing development costs. With the term minimum, people may think that this functionality is minor and less important, which is not the case since this approach prioritizes product needs to the point that they convey the key functionality to deal with the market problems.
This prioritizing is done by introducing products with minimal features to early adopters who understand the vision of the company and those who see beyond the current limited functionality. Companies doing these startups are cautioned to familiarize themselves before releasing their products to their early adopters to avoid releasing the product to customers with no vision, putting the company at risk of collapsing at the initial stages of product development.
The approach has several guidelines that guide caution investors to avoid the said concern. The guidelines are as follows; :
firstFirst, business people must build a minimum set of characteristics that will allow them to collect feedback from visionary early adopters.
Secondly, the business people are advised to produce what is required.
And lastly, the business people are required to release upgrades to the product quickly and cheaply as they find a solution to the market.
These guidelines mentioned above are achieved through the following steps that, in the end, assure success for the business:.
The first step is, the business people should review the prioritized product requirements. At the same time, they should understand the minimum functionality of the product they intend to deliver. This review may take up to 6 months, but the business in question is sure of meeting consumers’ value.
In the second step, the business should build a solution using product development methodologies such as waterfall and agile and take it to the market.
In the third step, the company should validate the solution. In this case, the business people should use Beta programs, win-loss analyses, and market interviews to recognize how the solution works for consumers, especially the early adopters.
Lastly, the business people should review their product requirements again and restart the process. Depending on the set minimum viable product deliverable, this may take long or short. BesidesIn addition, the business should be prepared for iterations; otherwise, the original intention will not be fully completed. Furthermore, the company should have a knowledgeable team that will upgrade a particular feature multiple times as they learn more concerning the product from the market.
Due to the guidelines that have well-set steps, this approach has many advantages. These advantages include; :
first, it maximizes the learning dollars while minimizing developmental costs.
Secondly, it allows a business to release versions quickly.
Thirdly, it enables businesses to learn from their mistakes, and lastly, it will enable the company to build fans, also known as product evangelists in the marketplace.
Despite the benefits, this system has several limitations that limit its effectiveness:.
First, this approach needs a lot of effort in collecting continual feedback from the customers.
Secondly, it needs dedication towards minor, constant product releases.
Lastly, it may result in a periodic revision of the functionality based on the feedback the business gets from the customers. Despite the limitations, one can deduce that the Minimum viable Product approach is good since it allows startups to learn more about the market before releasing their official version.
A business can choose from many types of minimum viable products depending on its budget and purpose. Startups should be cautious while selecting the type to engage in to avoid failure on initial steps. The latest reports show that nine out of ten startups are unsuccessful due to a lack of skills and the required knowledge while selecting the type of MVP necessary and suitable. In a broad sense, MVPs have two categories: low fidelity and high fidelity (JURGEN, 2019). Low commitment combines primitive concepts, while high fidelity combines more advanced and resource-consuming techniques.
Low fidelity types are easy to develop, and they give actual results necessary for the business people to understand the needs of the potential customers. Business people can prefer it when they find the primary direction for their StartupStartups to decide whether the idea is worth developing. On the other hand, high fidelity MVPs types provide profound results but require more development resources. They are crucial for a business that has already identified customers’ needs and has an idea for a solution. In this case, the high-fidelity type enables the company to determine whether the customers are ready to pay for it. Some of these types also allow collecting feedback from real customers to continue producing the product while on the right track. This paper will discuss the types of low and high fidelity separately. In real situations, customers being able to note that the product’s problem doesn’t guarantee that they are willing to solve it. Therefore, market research is never enough for a business to conclude that its idea is worth developing.
To solve this, low fidelity types of MVPs help define the problem precisely. Those types of low fidelity are as follows; first, “The Fake Door” MVP, also known as the Audience Building MVP. This type measures the interest in a product or feature without actual implementation. It is more than a landing page, and it can be a button on a web page or a short link where interested customers can show their interest by clicking on it. It helps in measuring the target audience without the prospects of the future. It has many advantages, including; first, it reduces the risk of losing funds on developing unsuccessful products.
Why do you keep use the term Secondly! May be “In addition,” or “Further,” etc, would be more appropriate!
Secondly, it prevents business owners from delivering features and services that customers don’t need. Thirdly, it aids in approving or disapproving ideas quickly, and lastly, it helps the business understand how potential customers perceive the offer. Despite its many benefits, it has several drawbacks: it can decrease business credibility as customers may perceive the experiments as a scam. Secondly, it may not give a clear picture of how many customers are interested in the product. Some of them may interact with the landing page under the influence of curiosity.
Secondly, landing page MVP. It resembles the Fake door MVP, but in this case, the business people do not have to pretend that the product already exists; instead, they introduce the product to site visitors and offer them potential options such as use, price, subscriptions and etc. Furthermore, this approach connects the business people to the target audience and allows them to investigate future developments. Therefore, this type is the most preferable for business people who want to set a customer base for the future.
This type has several benefits for business people. First, it allows business people to evaluate since it will enable them to use different messaging strategies in other landing pages. Secondly, this type is inexpensive and easy to deploy. Lastly, it offers the business people an opportunity to collect email addresses or contact information from their audience, allowing them to follow up on their products. Despite the benefits, this type has several drawbacks. One, it makes it difficult for business people to analyze why there is limited data collection in cases where the page’s visitors decide not to take action.
The last type is the Email MVP campaign. This type is used by business people who want to check whether they have a potential fan base through email. They create a clear email text with a catchy title and bright image. These emails will have specialized software like Mail chimp to enable them to do statistics of how many people opened the email address. This type of low-fidelity MVP has several benefits. One, it is cheap and fast to implement. Secondly, it allows for specific interactions with each customer, and lastly, it targets a particular audience. Despite the benefits, it has one drawback: email conversations are low in most scenarios, which impacts the results.
Since low fidelity MVPs types do not require significant investments. As a result, they do not give 100 percent certainty. Besides, they do not engage the time adopters as there is no product yet. As a result of this, business people cannot detect future developments, and therefore there is a need to adopt the high-fidelity MVP types. Some of the kinds of high-fidelity MVPs include, first, single feature MVP. This software product tests how users will accept a particular feature. It is less expensive and time-consuming, and it works by enabling business people to understand the reputation of their product in the long run.
The second type is Pre-order MVP. This type allows the business to get prepayments for a product that is yet to be released as long the product is unique and exciting. These funds may allow the company to make further product development. However, the prepayments impose a risk to the business since it should maintain the standards and quality failure to which the customers may be forced to claim their money back. Besides, this mode limits the company from getting enough feedback from potential customers. The last type is Piecemeal MVP, which allows the business to use existing tools and solutions for their new product (Eric, 2017). It is a cost-effective way of presenting products to potential customers. The company does this by offering goods from other stores into its catalog. Besides, they can absorb already made marketplaces instead of new software.
The concept of MVP goes beyond ancient single feature software prototypes. Its different types work for other goals and various kinds of products. Therefore, choosing the suitable Minimum viable product aids a lot in running cost-effective and effort-effective experiments while targeting meaningful results for further developments. Several service line providers are more knowledgeable about the best MVPs approaches that business people can easily trace. Due to their availability, business people should feel to consult matters relating to successful customer engagements at a friendly price. Besides, these business people should work on making a solid foundation on customer satisfaction issues so that they can conquer the market that is full of competition. Again, they will be able to maximize returns while minimizing development costs.
Because of lack of organization I really got lost through the reading and could not get concentrated!
You should rethink about organization and formatting and also like I staed run this through the “Assignment Review for Plagiarism,”. Then I can re-review it. You do have the content but somehow the form, is not there to convey your message and to attract the reader.
· Overview of Lean Start-up and Types-Origin and Process
· Are you repeating this again? I thought you already discussed this above!
Is it Lean Startups or Lean Startup, please make sure you are consistent throughout the report!
Lean Startup is a technique that involves setting new businesses established on the belief that business owners must look into, experiment, scrutinize, and iterate as they supplement the product. This approach emphasizes customer feedback and allows businesses to recover from failures more often than traditional ways of product development. Central to this approach are the assumptions that when startup companies invest a lot of time coming up with products that meet the wants of early adopters, the company can decrease market risks and the want for vast amounts of money during the elementary stages.
This lean Startup approach arose in the early 2000s, and it advanced into a methodology around 2009. Its developers were Silicon Valley entrepreneurs that are Steve Blank and Eric Ries. It was nurtured by early adopters such as CTO Rob Fan (Howard, 2021). It shares similarities with some precepts of lean manufacturing and lean software development. The similarities are that this approach seeks to eliminate waste practices and instead introduce value-adding techniques during the earliest phases of the company to ensure that the company enjoys success without sourcing funds from the outside. Secondly, this approach values customer feedback that ensures that the company doesn’t waste time and resources making products that consumers don’t want. This customer feedback is done either through key performance indicators or through a continuous deployment process.
May be this past section should go into the introduction, introducing Lean Startup!
Furthermore, this approach offers advice to startup companies that cannot make a single product or service to go for the minimal viable product approach where the company will be able to release an unfinished product to the test customers who will give feedback about the product. The company will be able to use the input to develop a product that satisfies customer needs. Another principle in the methodology is that a company should do its best to assess the customers’ needs and then go ahead meet the demands using the least amount of resources possible.
The process of this methodology is as follows; the first step begins with the entrepreneur building a minimum viable product and getting it to the customers. In this case, the entrepreneur should have fewer resources as stipulated by this approach (Jeffrey, 2018). Secondly, the customers are allowed to test the product and provide feedback to the entrepreneur. This feedback will either be negative or positive, and it is the entrepreneur’s work to be keen while receiving the feedback. Thirdly, the entrepreneur analyses the input and translates it into insights. Lastly, based on what the entrepreneur learns about the customers’ needs, they may decide the feature is excellent; it needs to be upgraded or scrapped altogether. From there, the cycle repeats, incorporating the changes that have been observed.
This process is essential since it saves entrepreneurs time and resources. Besides, it assures success when the product is complete since the entrepreneurs already know it works and has devoted customers. Despite the significance, the entrepreneurs must take caution of their ego that would pose a potential obstacle to their success. They should avoid being side-tracked by criticism, they should detach themselves emotionally from the process, and they should make decisions on cold, complex data. By doing this, they will enjoy the benefits associated with this methodology.
· Overview of Story Mapping-Origin and Functions
Story mapping is a strategy technique used in product discovery. It outlines a new product or a new feature in an existing product. The users of these techniques are arranged in functional groups, allowing one to keep an eye on the big picture while providing details of the whole application. Jeff Patron invented this technique, which he wrote in his book “User Story Mapping.” ,” He came up with this invention because he thought written documents are prone to misinterpretation.
This technique aims to uncover what is needed to convey customer value and avoid backlog grooming sessions that don’t engross the audience. When Jeff Patron introduced this concept back in 2005, it was dubbed story mapping until 2008. However, this concept has been adopted in the current decade by huge agile adherents who have included multiple tools and software solutions for product development teams. It has core steps that users must familiarize themselves with to get the result. Beneath each phase, there are more minor details that guide the user. The enormous step is checkout, while the minor steps include; choosing the shipping address, selecting payment method, sending shipment details, etc. Furthermore, this concept relies on visuals that make it collaborative and inclusive.
In this case, story mapping summons everyone to get their hand dirty as the map is developed-in real-time and in person. Besides, it offers an ample opportunity to challenge, add, and edit stories as they have been mapped. Furthermore, story mapping allows for continuity of work since new ones are prioritized and added when one step is completed. Due to this continuity, the process will remain intact whether one leaves, updates, or rebuilds it from scratch. Reassessing the map is healthy that is highly recommended since it allows one to gain invaluable insights. The primary function of story mapping is facilitating product discovery and prioritization of development work (de Classe, 2019). This prioritization is done by putting user activities and tasks on a map to keep them in context. The map always shows how each story fits in the whole application, which guides one in spotting gaps and deciding who is essential.
· Why and How Leap of Faith and MVPs are critical tools in the Lean Start-up Approach
Since the lean Startup approach involves using validated learning to determine customers’ interests, it tends to use the concepts of Minimum viable product and leap of faith to gain the product popularity and lifetime customer value. From the definition of MVPs, one can deduce that it is a critical tool of the Lean Startup approach. The term MVPs defines as a model of a new product that allows entrepreneurs to gather valid information about the customers with the least effort and at a cheaper cost. The learning will enable them to know what the customers want from the product and then make the product that meets customers’ expectations. By this, the company can save resources and time that could be spent while making a complete product that is not meeting customers’ needs. Besides, the company is in a position of setting a customer fan base that will aid them in making huge sales once the product is launched.
This methodology is similar to what the lean Startup approach uses. The lean Startup system usually relies on making products that customers have already demonstrated they desire so that the market already exists before the product is launched. From this view, it’s now clear that MVPs are a critical tool for the Lean Start-up approach. Another tool also bears the same importance as the Lean Startup approach, and it is called a leap of faith. Leap of faith is a problematic concept that companies during their initial stages of operations. This concept revolves around assuming the demand for a particular product in the market. Some people encounter the same product that the company is offering.
There is a high chance they will tell their friends about the experience. The company will gain a lot due to this sharing at little effort and cost. From this little explanation, one can conclude that leap of faith is critical for the Lean Startup approach.
· How MVPs and Story Mapping Complement each other
Both MVPs and story mapping complement each other in several ways. However, sStory mapping tends to add more value to the MVPs than how MVPs add quality (Vague statement!). Many people view story mapping as a backlog of user stories, but they fail to understand that story mapping can help refine an idea concerning a particular product. The refining process begins by engaging the team by asking them to formulate questions that would benefit the viability of the product. Some of the possible questions, in this case, would be what is the overall idea? Who are the customers? Who are the end-users? And lastly, why would they want it? These questions play a significant role since they enable the team to build the learning.
At the build to learn stage, the initial step would be to flesh out the idea and target a specific group of users. After reaching out to this group, one should collect the feedback carefully. At this stage, the metrics will fall into three categories. One is a polite enabler, the user who confirms that everything is good but is not using the product. Second is the complainer, the user who sends a list of demands and complains but uses the product, and lastly, the mute, the user who uses the product but does not say anything. From the three, the polite enabler is the worst user, while the complainer and the quiet are valuable due to their feedback since they can aid in refining the idea. The scenario mentioned above clearly shows how story mapping and MVPs complement each other.
References
de Classe, T. M. (2019). The play your process method for business process-based digital game
design. International Journal of Serious Games, 6(1), 27-48.
Eric, R. (2017). The lean Startup is how today’s entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to
create radically successful businesses. New York: New York Currency.
Howard, P. (2021). The Agile Guide to Business Analysis and Planning: From Strategic Plan to
Detailed Requirements, 1st edition. Pearson.
Jeffrey, R. (2018). Lean Startup: the complete step-by-step lean six sigma startup guide. United
States: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
JURGEN, A. (2019). STARTUPS, SCALEUPS, SCREWUPS: 50 tools to accelerate lean &
agile business growth. JOHN WILEY & Sons.
P, o. E., & S, S. B. (2020). Artificial intelligence: anthropogenic nature vs. social origin. Cham:
Springer.
I did not completely read the whole paper. As you see from my general comments you really need to critically re-review and re-write or re-edit this based on my recommendation. I am sure you knew this is not going to be a perfect paper and that is why I have encouraged you to get my review feedbacks. I am hoping that in the second review it will get a lot better, but do not rush this out and work on it and read it several times before you think the second review is over. As I said you have most of the content but the organization and form is not there yet. You also need to definitelt run it through the “Assignment Review for Plagiarism,” to ensure making it your own.
Good luck, keep the good work.
