e-Why, What & How · 2017-12-08

How much time does it take to make a Minimum Viable Product? – e-Why, What, How

By: Alexander Penkin

What is actually MVP? MVP stands for minimum viable product. That means, that, while the process of web and mobile app development you are creating the very first version of of your application or the website, which would be suitable for the provision of certain types of tests, which would help to detect main drawbacks and errors within a system, which you have just created. So, because of it, you will be able to collect a certain amount of data, which will become a core foundation for the improvements of the whole system itself.

Why is it necessary actually to develop an MVP? The answer is pretty simple, it is done in order to avoid the commitment of more mistakes, while improving a complete version of the website or an app. Clearly speaking, it is a strategy which allows to deal with the problems as they arise. However, sometimes, developers tend to ask a different question, while being curious on how much does it take and then how much does it cost to develop an MVP? In this article, I would like to explain these issues in as clear manner as possible.

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What should I consider while creating an MVP?

First of all, one of the most essential things, that you have to take into consideration is the fact that speed does not usually means quality. For sure, sometimes, primary developers, programmers and businessmen, who are launching their first big project really want to do everything as fast as it would be possible. However, that is not right. Do not rush, while creating a web resource or an extension, because all of those “saved” hours could later result in more problems, comparing to those, with which you have just dealt with after manufacturing and testing your MVP.

Secondly, another important thing to remember is the size of your product and the number of engineers working on it. Of course, it is possible to make an MVP in 1,5 or 2 months, while spending for about $2.000 for the whole process. But it happens not so frequently. You can create your MVP in such a fast manner only in case if your project is not really big. Moreover, sometimes even pretty small ideas and applications require much more to be made even in the version of MVP. Thus, you have to be ready, that this particular process is not the fastest one. Besides, I would also like to mention that really big resources, games or applications may take up to 12 or 15 months to develop and launch the MVP version, while the whole testing process may take for about 3 months. For instance, those applications developed by the means of augmented reality may cost you similar amounts of time.

For sure, it is possible to be concentrated only on the very basic and simple elements of your application, but shortage of elements is also not really good. While developing an MVP it becomes more important than ever to find the golden mean in order to provide yourself with a balanced and sophisticated testing of an already done product.

On average, in case if you have a middle-sized project, which is steadily developing, the creation of MVP does not have to take more, than four months. However, it is vital to keep in mind, that good MVPs may consist of two main parts. The first one is a core programming structure and the second one is the interface. Moreover, while talking on the interface I am also talking about such vital parts of it as UX or UI, which become the most vital features of the design, while providing the tests. They allow you to analyse how user friendly is the whole designing concept, how understandable it is and is it simple or not for the user to find the most important functions of the website, while using it.

Now, let me briefly explain several important pricing nuances, which play a vital role in the process of app development.

Firstly, usually app developing companies may spend for 40 hours per a week for the development of your app, while you may use from 2 to 4 for engineers (or maybe even more), for sure, depending on the size of your project. However, here I am taking only the average numbers. So that means that you will need from 2 up to 4 man-months for the development of your MVP. In case if we gave 2 man-months it equals 8 man-weeks, while for 4 man-months, we will get 16 man-weeks. In order to get the total number of man hours we have to do some simple math and multiply the number of man-weeks on the number of men-hours. Due to this, we have more numbers. For 2 months we need approximately 320 man-hours, while for 4 months we need 640 man-hours.

In case if we are talking about the direct prices, we have to keep in mind the place of the development of your MVPs. Personally, I strongly advise you to outsource the whole developmental process somewhere, where the cost of labor is lower, than in the West. For instance, if we talk about such countries as the USA, Canada, UK or Australia the average price for an hour of work there is approximately $120. While in such countries as India, Malaysia or China these price are much lower, with $25 average price of one working hour. So, to conclude, we can say, that in case if you are willing to develop your MVP in the West, it will cost you approximately $50.000, while if you are willing to do it in Asia, it will be no higher, than $14.000. The difference here is huge, while the final choice depends only on you and is identified by your opportunities, goals and desires for that particular moment.

Bottom Line

As you can see, the development of MVP is a highly important thing, which identifies almost the main point of the development for your project and the evolvement of the whole idea. However, because of its importance, that moment is not the easiest one and demands as much attentiveness and carefulness from your side. Furthermore, it also demands pretty good financial resources, patience and and enough efforts to complete that pretty hard process. Anyway, while developing your own application or website or e-commerce site you should keep in mind the fact, that the creation and testifying of your primary product, which is not full of features but created in balance in the very first stages is one of the most important and useful things, that ought to made in order to get good revenues and skyrocketing success.

(The author of this article Alexander Penkin is a freelance blogger working now for Artjoker, a software development company that specializes in startups launch including mobile and web development. )

All information/views/opinions expressed in this article are that of the author. This Website may or may not agree with the same.


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