Minimum viable product is like the gift that keeps on giving: every product person has an opinion about it, Medium is full of writing about it, and as you read this product teams everywhere are hotly debating whether theirs is appropriate to ship. But MVP is slowly making way to new ideas, and acronyms. And the focus on delight, over viability, is increasingly making its way into product discourse.
So we asked you this week – which is an acceptable minimum? MVP or MDP?
This turned out to be our closest poll question ever. Minimum delightful product only got 51% of the votes, so MVP is still very real. Our debaters, meanwhile, had some important input about how t0 think about these when you’re building a new product (or even releasing a new feature).
What do you think? Which minimum is acceptable?
Both
Our team likes to have our cake and eat it too. We validate our MVPs (typically prototypes or early working versions of a feature) by selectively sharing with users who’ve expressed a related need. Once we know we’re on to something, we make features available in beta and incorporate feedback from early adopters. After polishing to add delight, we launch an MDP to all customers.
Hubert Palan
CEO, ProductBoard
MDP
Only if you are a young startup and want to test your assumptions, is putting an MVP out there on the Internet the right call. Even then, I'd be super careful, because starting without standards of quality is bad. For most of us, MVP is a big no. The quality of the product is not only our professional pride but should also be a core value for our companies. Make delightful, amazing products! Wanna deliver on time? Reduce the scope - not the quality. Having said that- perfection can also be the enemy of delightful products. Perfect products never make it to production.
David Schwartz
VP Product, Wix
