MVP: Always a Product, Sometimes Viable, Never Minimum

The Thousand Product Pitches

Over over 20 years at Lunar, we worked on more than 200 digital products in different roles. Many of them were at the earliest stages of development. They'd be dubbed MVPs (Minimum Viable Products).

For each gig we landed, we discussed collaboration with at least a few potential clients. Now, one of my roles at Lunar is that I'm involved in these early discussions. The part of them, inevitably, is that we'd hear a product pitch. After all, we need to understand what kind of endeavor we'd be getting ourselves into, and our clients want to learn how relevant our experience is.

By now, I have easily heard a thousand such product descriptions, many labeled MVPs.

So yes, I see patterns. A lot of them. There is one, however, that's prevailing.

The Intention vs. Reality Gap

The term Minimum Viable Product was intended to mean an early version of an offering (a product) that's as small as possible (minimum) but delivers enough value to a group of customers (viable). That was the original idea.

The way people use the term is different, though.

After listening to hundreds upon hundreds of "MVP" descriptions, I redefined what these three letters mean when thrown into a professional conversation.

Redefining MVP Based on Experience

There's always a product, service, or offering in an MVP. That part is easy.

Sometimes, that offering can be considered viable. As in: I could potentially imagine a future in which this product thrives. It doesn't mean that this future would surely materialize, yet still, it's possible.

But after all these "MVP" descriptions, I'm yet to hear a single one that would really be minimal. In each and every case, it would be easy to reduce a significant part of the scope while still keeping the offering relevant and viable for some.

I'm not talking about shaving a feature or two but rather slashing half, two-thirds, or even more (in some cases, more than 90%) of the original scope.

So, whenever you hear MVP, read it as:

• always a Product
• sometimes Viable
• never Minimal

There's a whole other discussion about why and how we landed in this sad place, and one more on how to fight back, which we always do, by the way.

Oh, and if you believe your MVP is really minimum, challenge us. We'd do our best to reduce it even further nevertheless.