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The value of Pain

Regardless of how you plan to tackle MDE in a project the first rule for an optimal MDE is that version 1.0 should hurt. Only include functionality that is absolutely essential. Features that are valuable but not essential should not be in the first release. The hard part is getting the business to accept this (both employees and management). This is especially true for functionality directed towards customers. Minimizing features in the MDE does not mean that one should release a system that will be useless for internal users or customers.

Mitigating pain

There are many strategies that make it possible to release an very limited version:

  • Use Limited releases so that only a few users/customers are affected
  • Pain relievers can be used to compensate users and customers for any inconvenience they experience
  • Differentiators can give users and customers gains that outweigh the losses

The important thing is to make all stakeholders understand why the first release must be limited and give them an idea of how long it will take to get a more complete version deployed. Once the first release is in production it is much easier to prioritize functionality based on business value.

Pain in Replacement projects

Getting stakeholders to accept a painful release is particularly hard in a Replacement project. The gut feeling in the business will be that you must wait until "the new system is as good as the old one". One of the core responsibilities of the product owner is to work with stake holders and make them understand that the first release can not possibly be "as good as the old one".