Feature Prioritization: The 'Must-Haves' vs. 'Nice-to-Haves'

Once you have a solid understanding of your target audience and their core problems, the next crucial step in building your MVP is feature prioritization. Not all features are created equal, and for an MVP, the goal is to deliver the absolute essential functionality that solves the primary pain point. This process helps you avoid 'feature creep,' which can derail your timeline, bloat your budget, and dilute your core value proposition.

Think of your MVP as the foundation of your house. You need the load-bearing walls, the roof, and essential plumbing – not the fancy marble countertops or the elaborate landscaping. Similarly, your MVP needs to provide the core solution, allowing you to test your assumptions in the real world and gather valuable feedback.

Here's a framework for prioritizing your features, distinguishing between the 'must-haves' and the 'nice-to-haves':

1. Identify the Core Problem and Your Solution: Revisit your initial problem statement. What is the single, most critical issue your SaaS solves? Your MVP must directly address this. If your SaaS helps businesses manage social media posts, the 'must-have' is the ability to schedule and publish posts. A complex analytics dashboard might be a 'nice-to-have' for a later iteration.

2. Map User Journeys for the Core Problem: Walk through the most important paths a user will take to achieve their primary goal with your product. Each step in these essential journeys represents a potential feature. For our social media example, a user journey might be: Log in -> Select social network -> Compose post -> Schedule post -> Confirm schedule.

3. Apply the MoSCoW Method: This is a popular prioritization technique. It stands for:

• Must have: These are non-negotiable features. Without them, the product will not work or will not deliver its core value. They are essential for launch.

• Should have: These are important features that add significant value, but the product can still function without them for the initial launch. They should be considered high priority after the 'must-haves'.

• Could have: These are desirable features that are less important than 'should haves.' They can be included if time and resources allow, but their absence won't significantly impact the core functionality.

• Won't have: These are features that are explicitly excluded from the current MVP scope. They might be considered for future releases or may never be built.

graph TD;
    A[MVP Scope];
    B{Feature Prioritization};
    C[Must-Haves];
    D[Should Haves];
    E[Could Haves];
    F[Won't Haves];
    A --> B;
    B --> C;
    B --> D;
    B --> E;
    B --> F;

4. Consider User Impact and Effort: For each potential feature, assess its impact on the user's ability to solve their problem and the effort required to build it. A feature that has high user impact and low effort is a strong candidate for your MVP. Conversely, a feature with low user impact and high effort is a prime candidate for the 'nice-to-have' or 'won't-have' list.

Here’s a simple matrix to help visualize this:

graph TD;
    A[User Impact High] --> B(Effort Low);
    A --> C(Effort High);
    D[User Impact Low] --> E(Effort Low);
    D --> F(Effort High);
    B --> MVP_Must_Have[MVP Must-Have];
    C --> MVP_Should_Have[MVP Should-Have / Future];
    E --> MVP_Could_Have[MVP Could-Have / Future];
    F --> Won't_Have[Won't Have];

5. Ruthlessly Cut and Defer: It's tempting to include every shiny idea, but remember the goal of an MVP. If a feature doesn't directly contribute to solving the core problem, question its inclusion. Ask yourself: 'Can a user still achieve their main goal without this?' If the answer is yes, move it to the 'nice-to-have' backlog. You can always add features later based on user feedback.

6. Document Your Decisions: Clearly document which features are in your MVP and why. This documentation will serve as your roadmap and help ensure everyone on your team is aligned. It also provides a clear reference point when new feature ideas emerge during development.

By diligently prioritizing your features, you ensure that your MVP is focused, efficient, and most importantly, delivers genuine value to your early users. This focused approach sets you up for faster learning and more sustainable growth.