MVPs, MMFs, and Audiences

When we start a new project, we want to identify the smallest and simplest outcome that might be useful to us. We can build on and complicate this with more features as time and funding allow, but we can’t reduce this core and still justify any of the work in the project. This core is our minimum meaningful feature set. In the parlance of startups, this is the minimum marketable feature: the simplest and smallest set of features that can be useful enough to customers that they will spend money to get it.

The minimum marketable feature or minimum meaningful feature (MMF) is the smallest and simplest outcome useful to your target audience.

People will also talk about a minimum viable product or project (MVP). The MVP is the smallest and simplest outcome useful to you but not necessarily meaningful to your target audience. An MVP is great for getting a feel for how complicated a project might be when you’re working on a grant proposal. It might even serve as a proof of concept to show people what you envision. But it doesn’t need to be complete or polished enough to compel people to pay money for it.

The minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest and simplest outcome that is useful to you.

Every project has its own way of defining its MMF. The easiest way is to sketch out all the possible features you want in your project and then judge each one based on its priority. If the project lacks the feature, can it still be worth spending time and money on the project? If so, then the feature is not part of the MMF. Don’t discard the feature, but set it aside for now and recognize that you can add it back if time allows. Otherwise, it’s fodder for a follow-on project. Ultimately, the MMF is the core set of features, results, data, etc. If you decide not to do one of them, then there’s no point in doing any of them. They all must be done for anyone outside the project not to see the whole effort as a waste of time.

What if a project needs a feature because we promised it to a someone funding our work but no one else would miss it? Then, we can either negotiate with the funder to remove that feature from the requirements, which might work in some cases but not for others, or recognize that different groups will need different features.

This brings us to the next topic: our audience. We will return to audience throughout the rest of this series.

When judging each feature, do so with the intended audience or audiences in mind. Different audiences expect different features. Some audiences, such as the project team, do not consume the MMF but do consume the MVP. We distinguish between these audiences and the ones we listed above by specifying external audiences and internal audiences.

An internal audience is any person or group involved in the project’s day-to-day progress and is interested in the project’s outcome. Your internal audience comprises all the people working day to day to make your project a success. You might have all of these on a larger project. Or, if you’re working alone, you may do some or all of these roles at various times. Your internal audience is interested in the MVP because it allows your audience to estimate complexity, resource requirements, and other aspects of building the MMF.

• The software engineer (SWE) builds any software the project relies on to deliver its features.
• The user experience (UX) designer works with the project’s external audiences to ensure the project addresses the needs of those audience members in a way that works for them.
• The site reliability engineer (SRE) works with the project’s internal audiences to ensure that the project addresses the needs of those audience members in a way that works for them and increases the project’s reliability for external audiences.
• The product (or project) owner (PO) understands the project’s overall design and knows how each of the smaller goals relates to the overall project. The PO manages the team’s priorities to ensure that the most valuable work gets done.

An external audience is any person or group not involved in the project’s day-to-day progress but is still interested in the project’s outcome. Your external audience consists of all the people outside your team who want your project to succeed. You might have all of these or only a few, but your external audience doesn’t depend on the size of your team. Your external audience is interested in the MMF because it gives them something valuable that they won’t have without your effort.

What are some specific external audiences?

• The subject matter expert (SME) is someone outside of the project who is an expert in the project topic. The SME does not need as many explanations of terms and relationships in project data and may provide critical feedback.
• The colleague is someone down the hall who isn’t part of the project but competes for funding or other resources. The colleague might be an SME but is more likely to be focused on other topics in the same field.
• The public user is not an SME in the project topic but is interested in the outcome. The public does not approve or deny any financial support for the project. Rather, the public consumes the results without any expectation of providing critical feedback. For a commercial product, this could be a consumer for B2C or another business for B2B.
• The funder is the granting agency or other material supporter without whom the project could not proceed. When providing financial support, the funder approves the project goals and often expects them to be satisfied.

We have to prioritize our audiences. Some audiences are more important to us than others. This can be due to funding—we want to apply for and receive funding from the granting agency again—or due to the primary purpose of our project. Whatever the reason is, being aware of it helps us understand how to prioritize different work.

What outcomes or features does each audience need in order to consider the project not a waste of time? Note that this is different than considering the project a success or exceeding expectations. The first hurdle is simply not to waste time. Once we know that we aren’t going to waste time, then we can consider what else we need to do to build on that work to make the project a success. This also lets us know where we have to hold the line or when other factors come into play. For example, if funding gets cut, this lets you know if you must abandon any further effort or pivot to another goal that can be reached with the remaining budget.

What outcomes or features does each audience need in order to consider the project a success? This is the second hurdle after ensuring the project isn’t a waste of time. It’s additional work that adds value to the absolute minimum core.

Finally, what outcomes or features would have each audience consider the project a wild success beyond their expectations? These are stretch goals that can be added if time and resources allow, but shouldn’t get in the way of delivering other priorities.

Are you trying to define your MVP or MMF? Not sure how to juggle different audiences? Schedule a free consultation, and let’s see what might be possible.