#179 – The MVP Scope

When working with a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), it’s important that we don’t confuse it with the Minimal Marketable Feature (MMF). We lean (sic!) towards Eric Ries’ definition from his book, The Lean Startup, where “an MVP helps entrepreneurs start the process of learning as quickly as possible. It is not necessarily the smallest product imaginable, though; it is simply the fastest way to get through the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop with the minimum amount of effort”–so, it’s a way for The Scrum Team to accelerate learning what customers find valuable.

An MMF, on the other hand, which was first introduced by Mark Denne and Dr. Jane Cleland-Huang in their book Software by Numbers: Low-Risk High Return Development, is a small, self-contained feature that can be developed quickly and that delivers significant value to the user–here, adding value is emphasized.

So, no matter if you’re creating an MVP or MMF, help your stakeholders understand the purpose of it–and don’t accept scope creep.