Design a test for a new product feature with little or no code

Lean Product Management & MVPs

Set Up
I encourage you to pick a product idea that you are considering for your own company or independent work. If you do not have your own product idea, you can use an example one I’ve provided under the resource “Sample Project Ideas”. 1. State the problem you are solving 2. Declare assumptions about your problem and customers 3. Draft an MVP you will test – do not completely build yet, just describe what you will make. 4. Determine the measurements and goals for the MVP
Building your MVP
You can begin building your MVP when the set up is complete. You should be collecting the measurements and data you have declared to determine how successful your MVP is.

Pivot or Persevere

Decide if you should pivot
Review the data you have collected after your deadline for running the MVP and compare to your original goal. If you have met your goal, keep continuing with your experiment and collecting data. You don’t have to do anything more here! If you have not met your goal, it’s time to pivot! Looking at your data find out where your pivot should be made (customer segment, type of MVP, problem is not valid). Write out your next test using the steps from the beginning: Determine which problem you are solving Declare assumptions about your problem Draft an MVP you will test – do not completely build yet, just describe what you will build to test. Determine the measurements and goals for the MVP Start running your test again.
Details of your MVP
While your MVP is running, post details and screenshots of it for feedback. The more detail your provide in your project, the better feedback you can get!

Incorporating Lean into Your Team

Finish your experiment!
Congrats! Your project is done! Hopefully you have either validated or invalidated your problem hypothesis by now. If not, keep running your experiment until you are comfortable with the data. Update your project with your latest findings and determine whether or not you should invest in building the full product.

Additional Resources

John Griffin

68