Overview
What is the difference between the PoC (Proof of Concept), PoV (Proof of Value), and MVP (Minimum Viable Product)?
I will explain those terms using real-file examples and events from my personal life.
I will use non-IT examples - hopefully, they are easier to understand for everyone. Once you understand the purpose of those concepts, you will know when to use the proper approach.
PoC (Proof of Concept)
The PoC (Proof of Concept) is exactly what it is called - you want to verify the feasibility of some concept. What is extremely important is the PoC is (often) not designed to provide the business value.
For me, that was to check if I have the required driving skills to navigate a car and (big) trailer.
Why that was a PoC? Verification of my driving skills did not provide any business outcome by itself. PoC’s goal was to check if I can handle a trailer, but that was not the actual business need (I am not a professional driver).
PoV (Proof of Value)
The PoV (Proof of Value) is similar to the PoC in the way that we do not build a production-grade solution.
The core difference is that the PoV validates if some idea provides a business value or not. PoC might prove the feasibility of an idea, but that idea does not have to provide any business value. That is a huge shortcoming of PoC - we might successfully create something no one would be interested in. Multiple IoT initiatives failed because they used the PoC approach. The project successfully connected some devices to the Internet, but it was not enough to generate any business outcome.
My personal PoV was acquiring a caravan. I wanted to verify if traveling with a caravan generates any business outcome (satisfaction) for me or not.
PoV is not a solution designed for production usage, in my example that meant buying some old caravan (to control potential losses in case of a negative outcome). At the same time, that caravan should have functionalities “simulating” the production deployment. Real-file implementation - 20 years old, (almost) fully functional caravan.
Update based on the received feedback:
The PoV (Proof of Value) should be as close to the production setup as needed to validate the business outcome with a decent certainty.
Renting a caravan does not provide the “complete taste” of owning and traveling this way. When you rent something (i.e. a caravan) you do not have to worry about servicing it, replacing used equipment, or making small repairs. All of those aspects are an integral part of “owning” a caravan but are non-existing when you rent one. As a result, the PoV would be executed in slightly different conditions and would not provide a representative outcome.
That is the reason I bought a caravan instead of renting one.
When you execute the PoV you should do it in conditions as close to the production deployment as possible. The better the “simulation environment” the more precise outcome you will get.
Luckily for me, the PoV was successful and provided the business value (I really enjoyed traveling this way).
MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) differs from PoC and PoV as it can be deployed into production. It lacks some functionalities and might be not polished, but it does provide business value to end users.
Typically, the MVP is a natural consequence of a successful PoV. We proved that some idea provides value for end users, so we developed a minimal product delivering that value in production.
The MVP was to buy a (minimum == old) sailboat. Why that was an MVP instead of PoV? I already knew that I love sailing and there was no need to verify if there is any business value for me.
I would prefer to buy a new, high-end sailboat; because of multiple reasons, I decided to buy the minimal (cheap) version.
I do love sailing :)
Summary
In this post, I described PoC, PoV, and MVP. I hope that real-life examples showed the main differences between those concepts and were easy to understand.
If you have any questions, please subscribe to my mailing list and replay to the welcome message - I am happy to answer any concerns.
