If you’re bootstrapping your mobile app project, you’ll definitely want to build a Minimum Viable Product (also know as an MVP)!
In this brief article you’ll find some of the best books and resources to help you understand the MVP concept. You’ll also learn why it’s a smart idea to build something simple first, rather than a fully functional application.
Higher Quality Increases Profitability
The core MVP concept comes from lean manufacturing. Basically, you want to create higher value products faster and more cost effectively by eliminating wasteful features or practices.
As the late renowned scholar W. Edward Deming advocates, if you want to increase productivity and profitability, focus on quality and reduce waste as much as possible.
What is the ‘waste’ Deming refers to? From a mobile app startup perspective, waste is any feature or action that isn’t essential to the program’s core functionality.
Why is an MVP helpful?
Thanks to the plethora of affordable resources available online, in print, and through programs such as the ATDC, more and more founders are appreciating the value of starting with a simplified version of an app idea, also known as a Minimum Viable Product.
We feel so strongly about the importance of developing an MVP for your app or tech startup idea that we’ve even created a FREE resource on the subject: The Ultimate Guide to Building an Effective Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Best Books About Minimum Viable Products and Lean Manufacturing
The goal of our free guide above is to help provide a basic, yet practical introduction to the MVP process. But you’ll undoubtedly find value in reading some of the primary sources who helped popularize the MVP concept.
Here’s some of the best books available to help you understand MVP concepts:
The Lean Startup
Many people consider American entrepreneur Eric Ries to be the most renowned author on the subject with his breakthrough books The Lean Startup and The Startup Way.
Ries provides powerful insights into how the MVP approach was used to develop successful platforms like Dropbox, Zappos, and Groupon.
You can see how in some cases just one or two people can take a very minimal idea to market, and get enough feedback and traction to build out more features!
After reading The Lean Startup, I was able to see software development with a whole new lens. Previous errors or concerns such as “will people think it’s polished enough?” or “we can’t go live without having this feature and that feature!” went out the window.
These days we work hard to strip everything down to a simple concept: what is the problem at hand, and how can technology solve the problem as easily and efficiently as possible.
This is especially important when you’re creating a new mobile app and aren’t sure how people will respond.
We value this approach because not only does it save clients time and money, but it also reduces wasted efforts for our development team as well.
Out of the Crisis
As I continued to obsess over the idea of reducing wasteful endeavors, I went further back in time to research one of the foremost scholars on the subject, the late W. Edwards Deming.
Deming was an engineer, statistician, economist, professor, and in my opinion, a terrific author on the subject of lean manufacturing, the importance of quality development standards, and increasing profitability by decreasing wasteful practices.
His book Out Of The Crisis offers key strategies and insights into how to think and engage more efficiently, while improving quality and profitability along the way.
Importantly, he also outlines what he calls the “14 Points of Management” for leaders to implement. He also outlines the “7 Deadly Diseases” that you can commonly find in struggling companies.
Deming’s Out Of The Crisis is a remarkable, no-nonsense work that can help you think about the MVP process in meaningful ways. This book will definitely help you avoid catastrophe for your business!
The Toyota Way
If you enjoy Deming’s book, you might also enjoy learning about how his concepts were combined with lean manufacturing ideas in a production setting.
In fact, Deming incorporated the Japanese concept of Kaizen to revolutionize the auto industry in mid-twentieth century Japan! Check out one of the most notable books on the subject, The Toyota Way by Jeffery Liker.
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