Jaran Flaath

This is a repost of the original from my previous blog at https://world.hey.com/jaran.flaath

Following up my previous rant on signups, I am proposing a new tool into the lean product development toolbox: The Minimum Viable Signup.

We often focus on the process of signing up and onboarding users, but I want us to focus more on the information we collect during the signup and onboarding instead, and let that drive the process.

Let's focus on the absolute minimum of information we really need to ask for in order to get users in the door and on to what they are here for – perhaps to give us their money.

Our Minimum Viable Product is bust if we place it behind a MICS (a Maximum Information Collection Signup, a term brilliantly coined by yours truly, thank you). We will never actually know if our MVP is floating, because many of our users jump ship before we’ve even left shore.

Don’t hide behind authentication database requirements. If our backend can’t accommodate a signup that favours our customers, then we do something about that backend. We should not place the burden on our users by requesting a two page schema of information, just “because the database requires it”.

We are not in a position to make our users go through an audition to be let in. We are the ones on stage, needing to prove that we are worthy of their time and money. We should not waste the chance by asking for the names of their pets.

Next up: Minimum Viable Offboarding.