Everyone has a different MVP

MVP. POC. Spike. Beta. We throw these words around like everyone knows what they mean. They don’t.

I’ve been in meetings where one person’s MVP was nearly shippable. Another thought it meant a weekend hack. Both were frustrated. Both were right in their own heads.

The problem isn’t the words. It’s that we never stop to define them together. And the later you have that conversation, the more it hurts. By then, people have already built their MVP in their minds. Sometimes in code.

Get everyone in a room early. Ask what we’re trying to learn. Write it down. Make it boring and obvious. Then people can push back. “That’s not what we agreed to test.”

Without that, you’re just building and hoping.