From MVP to MDV: A Leaner Path to Value

Introducing the MDV: Minimum Deliverable Value

A Minimum Deliverable Value (MDV) is a lightweight, functional outcome that tests a core assumption or delivers operational insight without the bloat of a full MVP. This is ideal for validating a specific assumption, exploring a technical opportunity, or demonstrating early value before investing in a larger, traditional MVP or product build.

What is an MDV?

In its simplest form, an MDV is a practical, stripped-back deliverable that proves a point of value. An MDV is stripped back, often lacking fancy dashboards, user management tools and other non-essential features. Their core purpose is to provide a robust test and validate as quickly and effectively as possible.

Potential examples:

• A small-scale data ingestion pipeline that highlights an inefficiency within a set of processes.

• A weekly automated manufacturer report based on real operational data, highlighting machine production time and the utilisation of machines.

• A script or microservice that solves a niche but painful workflow issue, such as a finance department manually checking invoices before being able to proceed on a task or next step.

• A low-code dashboard using live data, instead of building a full web app to give an organisation insight into its potential data resources without the need of a high capital expenditure outlay.

Use Case: Manufacturing Analytics Concept

In a typical MVP approach, the instinct might be to build a full portal and analytics dashboard, complete with user authentication, deployment pipelines, and management tools, however this would be before initially proving the value. This not only slows things down and adds cost before it's clear the solution is even useful, but can also draw attention away from the initial purpose of the solution with focus shifting onto user experience.

Instead, the MDV approach focuses purely on the core perceived value: operational insight.

A Minimum Deliverable Value in this context might be:

• Deploying low-cost sensors to a production line in a manufacturing environment to report on downtime.

• Ingesting the resulting data into a simple backend or spreadsheet-compatible format.

• Running a lightweight analytics process to identify trends or inefficiencies.

Sending a weekly PDF or email summary to a stakeholder, or dropping live data into a shared Power BI dashboard.

This is how simple it is - No portal. No logins. No user roles. No frontend. No devops. Just a tangible, working insight that helps answer the question of “Is this data useful enough that we’d pay to see more of it?”

Once validated, there’s a much stronger case for better customer input to justify building the broader product, and ensuring it has the UI elements in place that make it an effective tool to use.

This leaner approach not only helps an organisation control costs and avoid scope creep during the initial development phase, but it also helps reinforce and refine the follow up requirements of the product and can ensure, once launched the product has all necessary features and functionality.