Every Project Manager wants to find a better way to help their team and optimize processes according to the requirements and unique needs of each project. That is why most of them turn to Agile methodologies. And, one of the cornerstones of this path is to release products incrementally. Going step by step, you prepare a smaller version of your product, release it to check the current state and if you can proceed with implementing other features, as well as make a pivot if needed. You repeat your actions until you are sure of the outcome.
In the process, you will start asking questions about your target audience, what your team is looking for, and how to help the members understand the required tasks given to each other. To find answers to these questions, most businesses opt for the Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) method, and such concepts as Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Minimum Business Increment (MBI) are what you need to know about if you choose this process decision framework. In this article, we will cover MBI in detail, talk about the purposes, and how its adoption may influence your business. Why MBI in particular? Continue reading to know.
Purposes of MBI, and Why You Should Take It On Board
MVP in project management is on everyone’s lips, and it is a part of the development process that helps it to be incremental. But, do you know anything about MBI? Adopting Minimum Business Increment can solve many problems organizations have with app development. This is a strategy for identifying the smallest value that can be added to a product.
MBI focuses on a minimal value, which facilitates work management and accelerates release stage. Its task is to validate achievements as well as avoid waste or risk of non-conformity of the final product. The solution is aligned with the company’s business strategy and contains all the pieces that are required for value realization by customers. It also adds value for customers and leads to valuable feedback to the product team. Thus, you will be sure that the right functionality is being built and will be able to deliver value in the future.
Moreover, this approach can sometimes replace MVP, because it is not always necessary during the process. For example, when you need to improve a product that is already in service, you don’t need MVP, and going for the concept of Minimum Business Increment can be a better choice in this case. MBI can also solve the systemic issue of projects that contain disparate and often disjointed enhancements.
If you are familiar with the purposes, advantages, and disadvantages of Minimum Viable Product, you need to understand that Minimum Business Increment has its purposes as well, and you should know them.
- Provides clarity of what to align around
It is important to understand that all parts of your business should be working towards certain goals. You need to define, implement, deploy, and allow for the realization of the most value defined by the stakeholders. And MBI can help you with that.
- Helps to manage your WIPs
MBI influences the amount of work in progress (WIP) by minimizing and providing a higher view of what to finish.
- Ensures completeness in order to realize value
It contains all the work that is required for the realization of value. Thus, it includes such non-development aspects of value realization as market support and user documentation. Besides that, it creates visibility and provides clarity for DevOps.
- Focuses on faster value realization to ensure the constraint of workload
It can be decomposed into stories and features, however, the scope will still be limited, which will help you to be more focused on the purpose and target audience.
- Provides an early descoping to high value
It really helps in focusing on manifesting the most important value. With smaller pieces, it is a lot easier and effective to manage and deliver results quicker.
MBI vs MVP: Comparison for Those Who’re Unsure
Whether you choose the concept of MVP or MBI in project management, they both represent the bridge between the business and development group. During the custom project management software development process, these concepts are similar, because they are both customer-centric mindsets that help to validate the work and improve it. However, they have some significant differences as well.
The first and key difference is the customer market they aim for. While the goal of using Minimum Viable Product is to create a new product for early adopters, Minimum Business Increment helps to solidify offering to an existing market segment or extend to a new one. Investment reason is what also differentiates these two options. With MVP, you can understand if a new product is viable, and MBI is about the return of investment and enhancement of existing products.
Talking about marketing, MVP focuses on interactions with prospective clients, while MBI pays attention to the existing clients and organizations. It means that the first case requires that you create a team focused on building Minimum Viable Product, and the second one can be executed with several teams in coordination. The approaches have different impacts on existing offerings, which should be mentioned as well. Thus, MVP has little direct impact on existing products and allows you to interact with existing systems. Choosing Minimum Business Increment means interaction with multiple systems.
Also, you need to be ready for different risks from each concept. Unfortunately, MVP may not have a viable market, which is why it is recommended to check it at the early stage. On the other hand, the enhancement given by MBI may not be as valuable as anticipated. Besides that, it can affect other offerings. When the implementation phase comes, you need to know that MVP requires starting with small features and then expanding, while MBI should be decomposed into features that implement only its scope.
Read Also How Using Gantt Chart Can Change Your Understanding of Project Management
Conclusions
As always, it all depends on your business requirements, needs, and goals when you have to choose a methodology to follow, concept to use, or team members to work with on a project. Deciding on these factors will help you to understand what is more suitable for you: MBI or MVP. Some companies even use them both to let them complement each other.
If you opt for Minimum Business Increment, you ensure a good guideline and direction for your teams. They will know that their efforts are aimed at delivering a high added value increment. As we said earlier, it can greatly enhance the ability of your company to deliver value in the future as well. Isn’t it what your company aims for?
