Company Context

HarborOps is a mid-market maritime software company that sells port operations tools to 40 commercial terminals across North America and Europe. Its core products help terminal operators manage berth schedules, yard activity, and vessel turnaround, and the company now wants to launch a new data product for onboard teams working on cargo vessels.

Problem

Today, onboard teams rely on email, spreadsheets, radio updates, and disconnected port systems to prepare for arrival and cargo operations. Interviews with 12 vessel captains, chief officers, and operations managers found three recurring pain points: poor visibility into port readiness, fragmented operational data, and last-minute changes that create delays and rework. HarborOps believes a data product could improve coordination between ship and shore, but the team has only 10 weeks and a small cross-functional squad to ship an MVP.

Leadership wants the MVP to prove that onboard users will adopt the product weekly and that it can reduce avoidable coordination friction before committing to a broader platform investment.

Deliverables

1. Define the target onboard user segment and the core job-to-be-done for the MVP.
2. Identify the most important user problems and prioritize the MVP feature set.
3. Explain what you would explicitly exclude from the MVP and why.
4. Define success metrics and the evidence you would need to justify post-MVP investment.
5. Discuss key trade-offs across usability, data completeness, reliability, and speed to launch.

Constraints

• MVP must launch within 10 weeks.
• Team available: 1 PM, 3 engineers, 1 designer, 1 data engineer.
• HarborOps has access to berth schedule data, ETA feeds, and historical port turnaround data, but not full real-time integrations from every terminal.
• Onboard connectivity is inconsistent, so the product cannot depend on constant internet access.
• Budget is limited to a pilot with 3 shipping customers and 25 vessels.