daring dude
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And no that is not some reference to basketball or something.
Instead its lingo for how you should build a product, launch a product, build up a company, and become a neccessary part of your life.
This doesn’t just apply to business’, this can apply to how you live your life – if you want to learn a better way to live your life, read on in that mindset.
Have an idea for a website? service? product? job? craft? [insert-another-million-one-word-things-here]? (we all do, who are we kidding? – oh wait no one.)
Interested?
You know I was. I first heard of this wondefully mysterious concept known as the “MVP” two or so years ago while scrolling through Quora at probably 3am on a school night when I should have been sleeping or getting work done. I read what it stood for, had a preconceived idea of what it meant and took it to heart. And I was wrong, so very wrong.
Enough with the chit chat, what the hell is an “MVP” if we’re not talking basketball?
I’m almost finished. If I just straight up told you what it stood for you would look at it, think you know everything about it (you don’t), clicked that “x” button on the tab and continued on your way (just like I did 2 years ago on Quora). I will not let that happen. You will learn what it means because it is so very important.
So I’m going to take this word by word. You ready? I’m not, this will be a whole lot ofenjoyable writing.
The First Word: [M]inimum.
Minimum, we all know this word. Its what we all strive(d) for in high school – to try get the minimum amount of work done for the highest value – and that meaning is exactly the same here.
Take your idea, with all the features you want, all the hundreds of ideas you want to involve it, and break it down to nothing, break it down to the basics.
Keep it simple, keep it minimal, make it the least amount of work to well, work.
Example:
I want to build a site that pulls in 800 different blogs (including this one) through their RSS feeds (this blogs can be found here), sort it by category (automatically), summarize the article (algorithmically), and then spit it out to me as an email digest as a backup. When I go to the site I want it to display with the newest articles at the top, and then “heart” and dislike “action” buttons next to the title. Each time one of the action buttons gets pressed I want it to post to my timelines on facebook and send an email to the owners of the site telling them that someone liked/disliked it. And then I want it to… (etc, etc).
Let’s break it down to the basics.
What are the basics of what is needed to make this workable? Break it down into a list of the basic concepts. This isn’t a list of what to do, instead this is a list of the basic ideas of the idea.
Thats not even close to what you described!
Exactly!
That’s the purpose get it down the most miminal and minimum version you can! Which in this case, just spits out the newest articles on the selected blogs!
Second Word: [V]iable
Now, If this was VMP, this would be so much easier to write because of the insight I’m about to give you for the M in M.V.P.
Viable – According to the dictionary viable means “capable of working successfully; feasible.” the key words here are working successfully and feasible.
Your idea has to be capable of working successfully, functioning in other words. The idea needs to be sound, it needs to be feasible. In other words. It needs to be POSSIBLE.
Everyday, I hear ideas that people want me to build for them, or that they want to start, that just aren’t possible to create.
The MVP idea is to build something that is minimal, and possible to create.
Third Word: [P]roduct.
Product – This is self explanatory, this is what you are building, this is the entire thing. This is the very idea that started this whole thing. It’s one of the most important, if you have a solid idea that is minimal, that is viable, and is a product then you are good to start creating it.
Figured out the acronym yet? Well here, I’ll give it to you:
Minimum Viable Product.
Seriously, thats all it is? The entire acronym could have been described in just three words?
Yep! But I gave you a bit more insight into it than just reading “Minimum Viable Product”. I have tricked you into fully understanding the concept (at least I hope) than just reading the three words and then continuing on your way doing it all wrong like I did.
Instead its lingo for how you should build a product, launch a product, build up a company, and become a neccessary part of your life.
This doesn’t just apply to business’, this can apply to how you live your life – if you want to learn a better way to live your life, read on in that mindset.
Have an idea for a website? service? product? job? craft? [insert-another-million-one-word-things-here]? (we all do, who are we kidding? – oh wait no one.)
Interested?
You know I was. I first heard of this wondefully mysterious concept known as the “MVP” two or so years ago while scrolling through Quora at probably 3am on a school night when I should have been sleeping or getting work done. I read what it stood for, had a preconceived idea of what it meant and took it to heart. And I was wrong, so very wrong.
Enough with the chit chat, what the hell is an “MVP” if we’re not talking basketball?
I’m almost finished. If I just straight up told you what it stood for you would look at it, think you know everything about it (you don’t), clicked that “x” button on the tab and continued on your way (just like I did 2 years ago on Quora). I will not let that happen. You will learn what it means because it is so very important.
So I’m going to take this word by word. You ready? I’m not, this will be a whole lot ofenjoyable writing.
The First Word: [M]inimum.
Minimum, we all know this word. Its what we all strive(d) for in high school – to try get the minimum amount of work done for the highest value – and that meaning is exactly the same here.
Take your idea, with all the features you want, all the hundreds of ideas you want to involve it, and break it down to nothing, break it down to the basics.
Keep it simple, keep it minimal, make it the least amount of work to well, work.
Example:
I want to build a site that pulls in 800 different blogs (including this one) through their RSS feeds (this blogs can be found here), sort it by category (automatically), summarize the article (algorithmically), and then spit it out to me as an email digest as a backup. When I go to the site I want it to display with the newest articles at the top, and then “heart” and dislike “action” buttons next to the title. Each time one of the action buttons gets pressed I want it to post to my timelines on facebook and send an email to the owners of the site telling them that someone liked/disliked it. And then I want it to… (etc, etc).
Let’s break it down to the basics.
What are the basics of what is needed to make this workable? Break it down into a list of the basic concepts. This isn’t a list of what to do, instead this is a list of the basic ideas of the idea.
- Website – We need this to be a website.
- A small list of blogs. – hint: 800 is a bit much to deal with at first, maybe try 5.
- RSS Feeds & reader – Pulls in all the newest blog posts from the above blogs selected and display them in a list.
Thats not even close to what you described!
Exactly!
That’s the purpose get it down the most miminal and minimum version you can! Which in this case, just spits out the newest articles on the selected blogs!
Second Word: [V]iable
Now, If this was VMP, this would be so much easier to write because of the insight I’m about to give you for the M in M.V.P.
Viable – According to the dictionary viable means “capable of working successfully; feasible.” the key words here are working successfully and feasible.
Your idea has to be capable of working successfully, functioning in other words. The idea needs to be sound, it needs to be feasible. In other words. It needs to be POSSIBLE.
Everyday, I hear ideas that people want me to build for them, or that they want to start, that just aren’t possible to create.
The MVP idea is to build something that is minimal, and possible to create.
Third Word: [P]roduct.
Product – This is self explanatory, this is what you are building, this is the entire thing. This is the very idea that started this whole thing. It’s one of the most important, if you have a solid idea that is minimal, that is viable, and is a product then you are good to start creating it.
Figured out the acronym yet? Well here, I’ll give it to you:
Minimum Viable Product.
Seriously, thats all it is? The entire acronym could have been described in just three words?
Yep! But I gave you a bit more insight into it than just reading “Minimum Viable Product”. I have tricked you into fully understanding the concept (at least I hope) than just reading the three words and then continuing on your way doing it all wrong like I did.
