Feature Slicing technique – Inspired from Lean Startup

Features are chunks of functionality which delivers value. Though teams work with stories but Features form the bed rock for those stories. A Feature adheres to following criteria:

•    It provides business value;
•    It is estimable;
•    It is small enough to fit into couple of sprints; and
•    It is testable from engineering perspective as well as market perspective.

The first and last criteria provide an interesting perspective if you combine them with Minimal Viable Product (MVP) and Minimal Viable Addition (MVA).

To realize an MVP, you are implementing multiple features partially.  

 With the success of MVP, you certainly want to augment the functionality to already released MVP. This addition, I like to call as Minimal Viable Addition (MVA). As with MVP, MVA also consists of many features in parts.

So the marketable product after first MVA release is:

Let’s generalize a feature. A Feature consists of MVP part as well as MVA parts.

Hurray! You have a new technique for slicing the Features. 

This technique essentially allows you to deliver the value in smaller chunks which reduces the market risk as well as early realization of value.