Keep the Minimum Viable Product as concise as possible

Strategy = Execution

Keep the Minimum Viable Product as concise as possible

In your search for a breakthrough value proposition for your customers, you need to make your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)—the first product or service you are going to put to the test—as concise as possible. Focus on the bare necessities, the essence. Guard against overcomplication, as I explained in Strategy = Execution (2020).

Minimum Viable Product is a term borrowed from the world of digital innovation. Since then, new concepts have been coined, like Minimum Awesome Product (MAP) and Minimum Viable Experience (MVE), which focus on the first customer experience you’re striving for rather than the first functionality you want to offer. However, this blog focuses on the basic notion of the MVP, which has since made its way into the realm of strategy execution in well-established businesses.

The word minimum is there for a reason. Note that minimum does not mean sub-par. Instead, it means designing a high-quality product for a narrowly defined goal and a manageable scope, and getting it ready for execution. It’s meant to bring about the minimum necessary customer experience, goals and functionalities. Don’t forget the 80/20 rule: 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes.

Building Block 6: Breakthrough

Let me walk you through the process. You’ve arrived at Building Block 6 of the model that I describe in my book Strategy = Execution. At this point, you’re looking to find a breakthrough customer value proposition. You’ve identified the customer processes and possible solutions that might lead to a breakthrough. Mind you, exhaustiveness is not your goal right now. You need to find solutions that have the biggest impact on your goals, make the biggest difference and can therefore lead to a breakthrough.

Digital innovation

It makes sense for you to look for solutions in digital innovation. ‘Give your customers what they will want later’, is something I often tell my clients. Digital innovation enables you to radically change and improve how you anticipate existing and latent customer needs. My book Strategy = Execution includes a checklist for this. You need to identify the levers that digital innovation gives you to create a unique value proposition. The key is to improve not only how you meet existing customer needs, but also how you are going to meet hidden or future needs—as strange as that may sound.

A logical customer journey

How do you go about that? Customer Journey Mapping has been around for a long time, but its popularity has rapidly increased since the advent of digital innovation. Customer journey mapping helps you put yourself in your customers’ shoes and stay there. The key advantages of this method are that it gives customers top priority, helps to identify latent customer needs and hence opportunities for growth, while also identifying potential synergies between (digital) channels. In addition, its highly visual nature makes it simple and easy to explain. Customers find it just as recognizable as employees do, which is always helpful in strategy execution.

Redesigning key processes

Your next step is to redesign the key processes you can leverage to achieve your goals. These can help you make a breakthrough to a new way of working. To this end, you can use timeless principles such as eliminating non-value adding steps; introducing pro-activeness (‘laying the groundwork before you start building’); integrating preceding and subsequent processes; preventing peak production, or designing counter-cyclically; segmenting and differentiating; and automating standardizable process steps.

Simplify

But keep it simple. Normally, any new operating procedure will also require you to adapt other, existing procedures. Processes are like algae: they grow, but they never shrink. That’s why you should simplify every project, be it existing or new. Because no matter how creative or brilliant the design, it will tend to be overly complex rather than too simple. If you’d like to learn more about integrating creativity into a process under time pressure, please read my blog post titled The Methodology of Creativity.

Single goal, single theme

To recap, in designing your MVP, you need to limit your product to a single goal and a single theme. Don’t develop anything beyond what you need to start the first wave of execution. You want to keep it concise and agile. After all, you have only five weeks. Your initiative as a whole may have three goals and involve five processes. But remember, 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. I know this rule is not set in stone, but trust me, it applies to most cases: 80% of complaints are lodged by 20% of your customers, just as 80% of your profits are generated by 20% of your customers. So, in designing your MVP, you’ll want to focus on the 20% of the functionality with the most impact on the desired customer experience and goals.

Test your business case

Alright, so you’ve set your goals, done your analysis, and decided what solutions will get the job done. Creativity alone no longer cuts it: it’s time to test and validate the business case. In other words, to add metrics to the design. You need to define what you’re going to measure during execution, and how. That’s a tough one, because you need to find a way to measure execution in isolation in order to get a clean reading. Where do you draw the line between direct and indirect effects?

Focus on value creation and achieving your goals. In other words, prioritize by value and urgency. Anything that doesn’t contribute directly to value creation or goal achievement can be dealt with in later waves. That’s how you ensure you eventually get around to every idea, which is important because ideas without follow-up just use up valuable brain capacity.

Strategy = Execution. Improve, Renew and Innovate Faster

How can organizations make strategy execution their number one priority? And improve, renew and innovate faster? This I describe in my book Strategy = Execution. Strategy = execution is based on the research that Turner started years ago into the success factors of strategy execution and innovation. We interviewed 60 directors and professionals and analyzed more than 75 cases, 300 relevant books and articles.

Look inside Order your copy

More about Jacques Pijl (author) and Turner Consultancy.
The most popular interventions based on Strategy = Execution
24 endorsements from organizational leaders
American management book of the year 2021, no. 1 in the category of strategic management, in the top 100 bestseller, seventh edition, translated into: English, German, Spanish, Russian and Bahasa.
Selection of the most important management books according to CEOs of innovative organizations (FD New Champions). Included in library of classics (mb.nl).
Nominated for Management Book of the Year.
Countless articles and interviews in FD, Emerce, Frankwatching and CFO.
Numerous Ted Talks and in-company workshops at the top 25-50 organizations, average rating 8.7.

Make an appointment

Would you like more information or a tailor-made quote? Fill in the form for a no-obligation appointment.

Jacques Pijl

Would you like to improve, innovate, and transform faster?

Turner is specialized in strategy execution. We make it our business to turn an organisations strategy into reality. For the seventh consecutive year, Turner has been recognized by clients as the best strategic consulting firm in the Netherlands. More than 4,000 executives and professionals participated in the MT1000 survey, in which Turner received the highest ratings for strategic consulting, client focus, excellent execution, and product leadership.

Read more about the results other clients achieved with the support of Turner Strategy = Execution. Ready to talk? Schedule an appointment. Contact us.

A selection of our assignments

Curious about more results from our clients? View the full selection here.

Financial service provider. One team, one vision, one execution

Breakthrough: The last years of the first decade of this century were challenging for the financial sector. The financial service provider was under significant pressure to realize strategic choices. The

A Future-Oriented Range of Services

A Future-Oriented Range of Services VvAA: Dutch Association of Health Care Professionals From strategic vision to pilot The VvAA’s new positioning translated into management terms

Four Health Institutions | merger

Four Health Institutions Merger Context: Four health centres across the Netherlands intend to merge Challenge: Finding synergies to reduce costs (4,5%) and increase quality and

Zilveren Kruis

The current healthcare policy has become unsustainable. With a growing number of clients and an increasing shortage of healthcare personnel, the accessibility of care is under pressure. Both developments will

World Cup – Diversity and Inclusion: Linking with the Business Community

The National Education AI Lab (NOLAI), funded by the National Growth Fund, is the world’s largest public investment in the field of AI and Education. No other country has allocated

De Vereende

De Vereende, an insurance company specializing in special risks, aimed to achieve higher efficiency, create room for new initiatives, and improve customer and employee satisfaction. The company enlisted the help

A selection of our insights

Curious about more of our insights? View the full selection here.

Strategy = Execution