uxsg#4 keynote presentation

@andersramsay | #agileux UX Singapore 2013

The UX of Minimum Viable Productsby Anders Ramsay


What is a Minimum Viable Product?


What is a Minimum Viable Product?The shortest path from idea to validated learning.


Source: sylvanlakelibrary.blogspot.com

“The Hudson Bay Start”


Formulate a Hypothesis:This is my prediction of what I’ll need to survive for 2 months in the middle of nowhere.

MVP Design

Learn from the Results:Did I use more/less food than I expected in 3 days? Did I discover gear I needed but didn’t have with me? etc.

Test the Hypothesis (Experiment):Trek into nearby woods and camp out for a few days.


Formulate a Hypothesis:This is my prediction of what I’ll need to survive for 2 months in the middle of nowhere.

UX: How do we design effective experiments?

MVP Design

Learn from the Results:Did I use more/less food than I expected in 3 days? Did I discover gear I needed but didn’t have with me? etc.

Test the Hypothesis (Experiment):Trek into nearby woods and camp out for a few days.


What would be an MVP for the redesign of a big-ass ancient enterprise system?

#agileux | @andersramsayUX Singapore 2013

Pain points- Entering data into wrong fields.- Changes sometimes not saved.- Data often needing to be re-entered.- Often manually renaming/moving files.- Some departments refusing to use the

system saying they’d never get any actual work done.


“Cool, let’s come up with the minimal feature set needed to replace the whole

enterprise system…”


“Cool, let’s come up with the minimal feature set needed to replace the whole

enterprise system…”

“No, let’s conduct an experiment:

Find a high-benefit/low-cost pain point, try

removing it, and see what we learn...”


The MVP:


Offered riches both in user and tech learning. Could be implemented quickly.A success, even if it failed.

The MVP:


vi·a·ble /ˈvīəbəl/Adjective1. Capable of working successfully; feasible: "the proposed

investment was economically viable".2. (of a seed or spore) Able to germinate.


“A minimal viable product is...a rolling series of releases that iterate and improvebased on a mix of data and vision/judgment.”

—Giff Constable, Interaction 2011


Focusing on learning, not features...


Focusing on learning, not features...Lean Startup: Focused on validated learning

Success?Failure?

MVP #1 MVP #2 Success?Failure?

...etc.Experiment and learn

Experiment and learn


Focusing on learning, not features...Lean Startup: Focused on validated learning

Success?Failure?

MVP #1 MVP #2 Success?Failure?

...etc.Experiment and learn

Experiment and learn

Success?Failure?

Agile: Focused on working software

Ship features the customer asks for (early and often)


How does this impact UX design?


Changing how we collaborate

Adopt Agile UX methods to enable fast/high quality cycles of work.

Whole team ideation and visioning

Effective workshops

Pairing across roles/disciplines


Changing what we measure

“Is this user-friendly?”


Changing what we measure

“Is this user-friendly?”

“How much would you pay for this”“How much time would this save?”

vs


Broadening our design focus

Designing and testing product viability.

Designing and testing user experiences.


MVP Design Patterns


PainkillerTry removing a high-value, low-cost pain point.


Fa$t MoneyTry shipping only what you think people will pay for.


Wizard of OzTry manually simulating system output.


Go Ugly EarlyTry shipping with the most bare-bones UX possible.


Fake Storefront (Archetypal Lean Startup landing page)

Try marketing the product as if already completed.


Be the software (aka “Concierge”)

Try manually simulating the user experience.


Which pattern should I pick?- What offers the most learning at the lowest cost?

- What best tests your riskiest assumptions?

- Expect to use a combination of patterns.


Bottom line- Designing MVPs is a craft in its own right.

- Broadens the meaning of UX design.

- Requires melding virtually all aspects of Agile/Lean UX.- A great measurement of your skill level as a modern UX’er.


Thanks!andersramsay.com@andersramsay#agileux

Presentation:http://bit.ly/ux-of-mvps

http://bit.ly/uxofmvps

http://bit.ly/uxofmvps