For a long time, I thought the best way to make a product was by creating the smallest version possible. The famous Minimal Viable Product (MVP). This is so popular because it focuses on getting something out to users as fast as possible.
If you have not validated your idea, it’s still a solid way to go. But, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there is a better approach for us to build this new generation of appointmed.
In the previous Slow & Steady issue, I already talked about the reasons why we decided to rebuild our entire product from scratch. But it’s not only the product itself that matters. As entrepreneurs, it’s in our nature to continually challenge existing paradigms and explore new ways of building things too.
Instead of MVP, we are trying something different this time, giving a new acronym a try: SLC, which stands for “Simple. Lovable. Complete.”
Unlike MVPs, which often prioritize discovering the right feature set over creating a great user experience, the SLC approach emphasizes the importance of building a product that users will genuinely love from day one.
Since we already know how 95% of the product will work and look like, we can fully focus on infusing it with elements of delight, creativity, and tremendous attention to detail—one feature at a time. SLCs have a singular focus on one complete feature at a time.
Taking appointmed as an example again, we offer four main features in our application:
- Scheduling
- Invoicing
- Task Management
- Electronic Health Record
The first three could be replaced by various business applications: Google Calendar for managing schedules, any SMB invoicing tool for billing patients and clients, and a simple to-do app for keeping tasks in check.
What’s not easily available is a secure and delightful Electronic Health Record solution to store highly sensitive health data. That's the product we plan to launch with.
It’s going to be simple.
Customers love simple products, even if they don't do everything they need from day one. Ignoring the scheduling or invoicing part, which will be built later down the line, makes it a simple product by default—not only for the user but also for our team regarding code and infrastructure complexity.
It’s going to be lovable.
This is where it gets especially fun for me as a product designer. Knowing exactly how things should and will work allows us to focus almost all our exploration efforts on creating a delightful user experience. People should want to use it every single day.
Delight can easily be built in if you know exactly where you are going.
– Jason Cohen
It's going to be complete.
This is decidedly different from the classic MVP, which by definition is incomplete and “embarrassing.” It's not version 0.1 of a huge product; it will be version 1.0 of something simple. If you're just looking for a way to store your patients' data and document your sessions, it will be the best solution you can find.
Once that is built and launched, we will start the entire process over and focus on the next area of our product. Each feature will be so refined and well thought-through, that we could sell it as individual products. However, the end goal is having lots of SLCs deeply integrated to recreate the All-in-One solution appointmed is right now.
And as a bonus… it will also be extremely affordable in the beginning. After all, it’s only a small part of the final product. We are leaning towards $10-15 per month per user and increasing the price with every feature we add in the future (they will also be built following the SLC methodology, of course).
Exploring new methods for product development is always a thrilling challenge for me. With the groundwork laid and the first steps taken, I have high hopes that this will be a massive success for us as a team.
