A little background.

Recently, my son decided he would like an iPod touch. (well, really, he wanted an iPhone, but he's to young for a phone...) We felt, if he wanted something that big, he ought to save for it to appreciate the amount of money it was. He had some birthday money saved and so the conversation continued.

Next question. 'So how much does an iPod Touch cost?'

He was surprised at the answer and we rapidly established he didn't want one £200 bad...

Trimming scope

After a conversation about the cost of things generally, we talked about what he wanted the device for. The reasons, were largely technolust and friends having them.

As we talked, what was brilliant, was he started cutting scope...

'Well, I don't need a camera - I have a camera, I don't need to get on the internet, I have a computer, I don't need to play games on it, I have a DS...' We talked more and he realised that as he has Ubuntu, an apple device didn't add any value. (No iTunes for linux)

In scope:

• Play music
• Watch videos
• Look at photos
• A big screen

Out of scope:

• Internet
• Games
• Camera
• itunes compatibility

So, what started as a £200+ requirement, became a £90 device, which had more memory, than the iPod, did video, music, picture and happened to also do audible, and had an FM radio.

I'm blogging about this, as I found it a useful insight into how MVP isn't that hard to get to, once you start looking at what the value of each of the requirements really are to the user.