A New Mental Model for Minimum Viability (MVP)
When somebody explains what an MVP is in concept they may do so by using the skateboard to a car analogy. The concept being that we are creating a better and better mode of transportation overtime.
The concept falls flat however when you consider that each of these may be a mode of transportation, but they are also used for completely different things. A bike can be for exercise as well as transportation, or even just for entertainment. Likewise a skateboard can be used to get around a college campus, or taken to a skatepark.
This lead me to thinking we need a better mental model.
In that vein I decided to start thinking of an MVP as a tiered cake that we are building over time. At every layer provides similar value in that you are giving people cake. As you improve your cake the taste gets better, the tiers higher, the design prettier; but it’s still cake.
By considering your MVP as the beginning of a larger cake you can focus on the vision that you have for the product. Customers and users can give feedback and that may adjust the design, flavor, or type of cake but it will still be the vision for the product you have in mind.
In you product journey make customer feedback a new lens on your vision, not a diversionary path, and let them eat cake!