Product Design and Development Approach for My Minimum Viable Product
When I’m putting a web application together I start with wireframes and a rough sketch of the main screens. This is after I’ve done some initial research. Ex. competitive analysis and some landing pages to gauge interest. I typically focus on the desktop version and then an alternate mobile version. Not really a good approach. In addition, when developing mobile prototypes for apps I initially thought that developing mobile web version that had the look and feel of a native app was also a good approach. It’s not. This also took significant time and effort in the early stages. In the spirit of being “lean” I’ve found a better approach. I’d like to stay true to my “minimal viable product” for my first couple of iterations. Deliver the most value with a focused set of features in an easy to maintain fashion.
It also helps to understand visual design and have knowledge of front-end development. It will allow you to make informed decisions on how to get your product out there in the most effective way possible. You are better able to make design trade-offs with an understanding of the constraints.
Luke Wroblewski and Ethan Marcotte have shaped my thinking on this. Luke with his Mobile First philosophy and the Responsive Web Design approach as noted in Ethan’s recent book. The key to this approach is using flexible width CSS grid systems and CSS media queries to target specific browser widths and serve up the appropriate styles in scalable fashion. Although there have been some posts in regards to the downsides of this approach, an example is scalable images, I think the negatives apply more to content rich sites versus web applications. I think benefits far outweigh the negatives when using this approach for web applications. Especially for your first few iterations.
Approaching your problem from a mobile first mindset forces you to focus on the essentials and key tasks. You typically have less real estate and every interaction needs to be economical. The responsive web design approach will make your build flexible enough to be used across devices. Mobile, tablet and desktop, without having to maintain multiple builds. There is nothing more painful than having to maintain multiple versions of your minimal viable product in the early stages. It gives you less freedom and flexibility to pivot and change course. Which is crucial in the early stages of developing your product. Speed and agility are key to keep your momentum moving forward.
