26. If you can’t convince ’em, rebrand!

When it comes to the term “MVP,” everyone has a different interpretation of the term. Like it or not, perception is reality. If the term MVP has you stuck, why don’t we use a different term?

In our last episode, Derek read an insightful article by Ardi Karaj titled The Learning Release. In her article, Ardi suggests changing the way we talk about MVPs. She breaks the idea of releases up into two phases: A Learning Release and an Earning Release.

We found this idea extremely compelling. As both of us have worked in software for a while, we’ve seen firsthand how the term “MVP” has been bastardized and has ultimately lost its true meaning. As Ardi says, ask five people what they think of when they think about MVPs and you’ll get more than five answers. Preach!

This week, Derek and Jeremy discuss Ardi’s idea and explore how we might apply some of these concepts to the enterprise software space.

Topics:
• 04:52 – Words make a difference to people learning a new concept
• 06:21 – If you can’t beat them, rebrand!
• 09:19 – We can’t say we’re going to make money if our confidence isn’t high.
• 10:18 – Other industries do market trials and focus groups
• 13:16 – Derek’s analogy of the day
• 15:55 – If your team can’t celebrate changes, you may not be a team
• 18:24 – How do we apply this to enterprise software?
• 20:28 – Can we separate the learning release from the codebase?
• 21:44 – Can the learning release be a beta test with a small subset of users?
• 22:44 – Promise knowledge by a certain deadline not features
• 23:37 – Instead of monetary benefit, what if the benefit is knowledge?
• 25:27 – Don’t be selective with the feedback you get from a learning release
• 29:01 – Explore tools to help with your learning release
• 31:46 – Be irreverent with how you learn
• 33:01 – Make the best of the tools you have

Helpful Links:
• Follow Ardi on LinkedIn
• Follow Ardi on Twitter
• “The Learning Release” by Ardi Karaj
• Retro Time After Hours: The Learning Release
• Retro Time 06. MVP2

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Episode thumbnail by HIVAN ARVIZU @soyhivan on Unsplash