Balancing MVP And MVA

The objective of polarity is to be capable of utilising both poles and leveraging both over time. Simplified, call it balancing. Now, how do we balance people that have different views but yet the same goal? Such situations take turns in the early requirement phase of a tech project. In this phase, the pole of MVP (Minimum Viable Product) meets MVA (Minimum Viable Architecture). The characteristics of a Product Owner are often about pushing more into the MVP and getting it done faster. The other pole, occupied by tech people, is often about to build a ship to cross a lake. Both poles intend to finalise the best product in a timeline and release it on the market, which is only sometimes waiting. In such a speedy market, it’s essential not to produce waste. A waste of time is a waste of money, leading to wasted business opportunities. That’s why balancing the MVP and MVA plays a massive part in the requirement phase. In an agile approach, architecture work has to be done as a continuous stream of decisions and experiments that validate the Product owner’s view. The challenge is how to do this under time constrain. The goal of the MVP is to determine whether its benefits result in improved outcomes for the customers or users of the product, while the intent of the MVA is to ensure that the product will sustain those benefits over the entire lifespan. Let’s keep that in mind and build things right.