Sprint Increment vs. Potentially Shippable Product vs. MVP vs. MMP

According to the Scrum Guide:
“Scrum requires the team to build a potentially shippable increment of functionality in each Sprint, and the increment must be potentially shippable, as the Product Owner may decide to release it at the end of the Sprint.”
  • Sprint Increment
The Sprint Increment is the sum of all Product Backlog items completed during the current Sprint.
  • Potentially Shippable Product
The term “Potentially Shippable” refers to the level of confidence or readiness of the Product Increment for delivery.
  • Shipment
Shipment may or may not occur at the end of a Sprint — new features might accumulate across multiple Sprints before being released. This is purely a business decision.
Sprint Increment
Sprint Increment
  • Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The term “Minimum Viable Product” was coined and defined by Frank Robinson in 2001 and later popularized by Steve Blank and Eric Ries. An MVP is a product with just enough features to satisfy early users. The final set of complete features is only designed and developed after considering feedback from the initial users. Gathering insights from an MVP is typically cheaper than building a product with more features, and it reduces cost and risk if the product fails.
Minimum Viable Product
Minimum Viable Product
  • Minimum Marketable Product (MMP)
Many people use the terms MMP and MMR interchangeably. When they refer to MMP, they often mean MVP. However, MMP should be seen as a product development strategy based on the philosophy of “Less is More.”
MMP describes a product with the minimal set of features that can meet user needs, deliver the required user experience, and thus be successfully marketed and sold. MMP is a tool to shorten time-to-market: it can be launched faster than a feature-rich product.

MVP vs. MMP

As discussed above, the entire purpose of an MVP is to validate your business idea and determine which problems need to be solved for users to be willing to pay for the product. MMP is a combination of several improved versions of an MVP. As each version of the MVP is enhanced, the most efficient and compact form of a marketable product is built, as illustrated below:
MVP vs. MMP
MVP vs. MMP