MVP Development: Create Apps Faster & More Efficiently? Tips for The Minimum Viable Product

Your decision to develop an app is also a decision to make a certain investment. After all, app development incurs costs and ties up resources that need to be accounted for. That's why it's important to make the process as efficient as possible and reduce the risk of wasting too much time and resources on a failed development.

In this article, we'll explain how MVP development fits into this and why we recommend everyone to give more thought to MVPs.

What is MVP development?

An MVP can exist in virtually any industry. The concept originates from the Lean Startup methodology and is primarily a tool to validate a product idea as early as possible before investing more resources in developing the final version.

In software or app development, the MVP approach focuses on creating an initial, functional iteration of the software or app. The goal of MVP development is to launch the Minimum Viable Product as quickly as possible to start gathering user feedback, which is then used to optimize the product through further iterations.

Functional instead of full refined: Characteristics of an MVP

MVP development follows the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. The focus is on keeping the product straightforward, making the MVP approach the opposite of Big Design Up Front, where perfecting the product before launch is the priority.

MVP development is a work in progress. Feedback and optimizations are essential for refining the MVP efficiently through subsequent iterations. Certain characteristics define an MVP:

• Functional value: An MVP doesn’t need to have all the features of the final product, but it must include the key features.

• Viable: An MVP should be operational and functional in practical use, not just in a test environment.

• Potential: The MVP is not a finished product but a starting point from which the final product evolves iteratively.

• Critique-friendly: Feedback is at the heart of MVP development, allowing the product to adapt to user needs during the development process.

How to develop an MVP?

An MVP is not the end goal but a milestone. The MVP approach is not an end in itself, but an efficient pathway to the final product. Once the first functional iteration is complete—the Minimum Viable Product—it is used to gather feedback for further iterations.

MVP development is not about limiting yourself to the bare minimum but about efficiently building on that initial version. This is illustrated by the Build-Measure-Learn cycle, which guides MVP development:

• Foundation: As with any project, you start by defining your product requirements and setting milestones—one of which is the MVP launch in MVP development.

• Build: You begin development up to the MVP, the first functional iteration with the smallest scope necessary to fulfill its intended function.

• Measure: You launch the MVP and make it available to real users to collect valuable feedback.

• Learn: You analyze the feedback and use the insights to further develop the MVP in subsequent iterations.

One cycle does not mark the finish line. The first version prioritizes functionality, while later versions focus on additional aspects such as design. This approach is more efficient because you gather feedback at each step rather than needing to overhaul a fully developed product at the end.

A low-code platform offers clear advantages in this context. By allowing you to build core functions via drag-and-drop, you can create an MVP much faster and without coding. Moreover, you can continuously develop, deploy, and gather further feedback on the evolving product.

What are the advantages of the MVP approach?

In practice, MVP development is often neglected. Instead of focusing on delivering a functional first result, teams can get caught up in unnecessary details. The MVP approach helps to work more efficiently and with clear direction. In short—MVP software development is worth it, and here’s why:

• Lower Risk: With MVP programming, you minimize the risk of investing too many resources in the wrong direction. Feedback loops quickly reveal whether you're on track.

• Budget-friendly: The MVP concept allows you to implement crucial feedback earlier, avoiding costly corrections after the final product is completed. This results in lower overall costs.

• Speed: An MVP is not only quicker to launch; you also save time by iterating and optimizing throughout the development process. Using visual programming with low-code or no-code platforms gives you an additional edge.

• Focus: MVP development emphasizes functionality, allowing you to exclude originally planned but ultimately unnecessary features. This helps you create a solid foundation that adds real value to your application.

• Efficiency: MVP development enables faster learning from interim results, leading to highly efficient progress toward the final product through additional iterations and development cycles.

Risks and disadvantages of MVP development

While the MVP approach offers many benefits, there are a few points you should keep in mind:

• An MVP is not a guarantee of success: If the product idea is fundamentally flawed, an MVP will not change that. However, the advantage is that you can identify this early and make adjustments accordingly.

• No hypothesis, no MVP: An MVP always aims to validate a concept or idea for software to the point where you can efficiently move to further iterations. You must always know where you want to go and what you're testing with the MVP.

• Not every use case is suitable for MVP development: If the software will be used in critical infrastructure or if strict compliance requirements (such as security) are in place, an MVP may not be appropriate. Therefore, it's important to thoroughly analyze the use case in advance.

Tips & success factors for MVP development

The idea behind MVP development is to create your final product as efficiently as possible, without investing too many resources into failed developments. To make this work, we have a few tips that apply regardless of use case and target audience:

1. „Minimum Viable“ (meaning minimally usable) in MVP means that you should carefully select the core functions. Focus on what the future user should be able to do with the software, and not just what is nice to have. An example: The MVP was „only“ designed to display the machine status live – without historical view, interpretation, or anything like that.

2. You can initially make the MVP available to a test target group. However, this should match your final target group so that the user feedback is realistic and actually helps move the product forward.

3. At the same time, you should define measurable goals for each feedback loop, so you can derive actionable insights.

4. Don’t be afraid of mistakes and restarting! The core idea of MVP development is, after all, to recognize early on what works and what doesn’t. It’s better to start over sooner than waste unnecessary resources.

5. A single MVP test run and subsequent optimization are not enough – the motto is test, test, test and continuously iterate.

6. So, if you outsource app development, you should aim to work with a provider who embraces the MVP approach with you. It is even faster and more cost-efficient via a low-code platform in a visual development environment, where you can edit your MVP yourself.