Steve Neiderhauser

Minimum Viable Product Strategies

In his new book "The Leader's Guide," Eric Ries shares several strategies for your Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

Show early prototypes to customers

If your company creates a fully functioning prototype early on, show the prototype to your customers and get feedback fast.

Take advantage of early adopters' eagerness to try new products

Customers are often eager to experiment with partnerships and co-create opportunities. These partnerships provide valuable learning early in the development process.

Pilot in one area first

Instead of launching a product in every business unit or customer segment, pilot the product in one segment. This way you'll learn if your strategy works before you start to scale.

Create a "concierge MVP"

A team could not see why it took six weeks to get the authority to post a job description online. So they created a concierge MVP: an internal web page where they were free to enter the job description and get the approvals themselves. This approach revealed what was causing the delay.

The notion of a minimum viable product is one of the most powerful concepts on the planet. Simply embrace MVP and you'll accelerate learning, while saving time and money.

Agile is a MIndset

Steve Denning writes that an Agile mindset matters more than technology.

These findings come from the research performed by the Learning Consortium, a group that conducted nine onsite visits to companies using Agile development.

What's the most important finding? Changes in mindset are more important than changes in hardware or software.

The report lists six concepts common to the mindset. Here are three:

Managers enabling people to perform, instead of commanding people to perform.

The use of self-organizing teams and networks of teams.

Instead of bureaucracy, teams coordinate work through iterative, customer-focused practices.

Four Tips to Becoming a Better Writer

JB Glossinger shares four tips for becoming a better writer.

Attitude is key. Shift your mindset from "I hate to write" to "I love to write!" and that alone will do wonders.