Agile incremental delivery — how to explain Agile, MVP and Incremental delivery to anyone
If you are interested in Agile and if you want to read up on it (reading books, blogs or following discussions on twitter) you soon stumble…
If you are interested in Agile and if you want to read up on it (reading books, blogs or following discussions on twitter) you soon stumble upon the following picture to visualize incremental value from Henrik Kniberg:
I do understand where this picture is coming from. It is about starting with MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and then delivering incremental value step by step, bit by bit. Vasco Duarte uses a similar example in his NoEstimates book. He starts with a tent –the MVP-, then creates a hut, a trailer home, an apartment, a condo and finally a house. This is about delivering value fast and at least have something ready to ship when the deadline hits. This is opposed to the traditional method where you would have a half built house which is unusable.
These aren’t strong examples. In fact I dare to say these are not reflecting the idea of incremental value. In the examples above, the increments don’t add value on top of a previous increment. It is basically replacing one feature with another.
I won’t argue that the first feature of the picture, the skateboard, is not reflecting what the end user wants. You can only determine this if you know the demand and it might be that the only requirement is to have a fast way of transportation. All increments then would improve the situation, when compared to walking, but not really compared to the immediately preceding increment.
The fact that you don’t deliver incremental value on top of what you already delivered is the issue here.
Below I have an example which I love to use. It is about building a holiday park, starting with an empty field. It start with a MVP. Every next increment is added value and the previous features remain as useful. You can start with a very basic campsite and improve it step by step.
Tom and Jane bought a piece of land in the French Alps. It is their dream to start a beautiful holiday park. They expect to have visitors throughout the year.
Tom and Jane start with the quick wins and deliver value bit by bit.
They start with the basic campsite for tents. This is the minimum viable product (MVP). All very rudimentary, but at least they are able to generate income very early on. In fact: they started this in March and already in April there are people staying on their campsite, and paying for the services.
Next they add the reception. Now it is very clear were to be to check-in and check-out, ask questions etc… They did this based on the feedback that people, coming to the park, did not know where to go to check-in.
Next addition are toilets and showers. Now people’s basic hygienic needs are met, and they don’t need to take a shower with a bucket containing ice-cold water from the river nearby or to use Tom and Jane’s toilet.
Next they add electricity outlets to allow caravans. This is ready before the summer season, allowing Tom and Jane to make even more revenue.
Next are laundry facilities so people don’t have to leave the holiday park for this, and end up finding a better holiday park.
Then a camp shop for convenience and added revenue.
After that, container homes to attract winter holiday makers, well before Christmas.
Then a swimming pool to appeal to families with kids.
And then the fun and entertainment team to make the holiday park even more appealing.
Etc… the list can be endless.
This is a very clear example where you can start with quick wins and add increments on top of that adding more and more value. There is immediate value from the first increment. It is also — and I think this is crucial — very much applicable to software development. That is why this example is so vivid if I use it to explain one of the benefits of incremental delivery to my colleagues.
Originally published at ageling.wordpress.com on February 4, 2016.