MVP is the acronym for Minimum Viable Product, referring to a basic usable product that an enterprise can develop at minimal cost. Although its features are simple, it can quickly test how the product is received in the market, making it easy for the enterprise to iterate and optimize the product to fit the market. In other words, an enterprise can use an MVP for low-cost trial and error to improve and refine the product.
Minimal — centered on oneself — represents the lowest development cost and the fastest development speed,
Viable — centered on the goal — represents having basic value that meets core needs,
Taking the intersection of the two gives you the Minimum Viable Product. Considering only minimal, without viability, produces garbage no one needs. Considering only viable, without minimality, is like being perpetually late and always breaking promises. Considering neither minimal nor viable is self-indulgence while working behind closed doors.
With the development of the internet and the faster pace of life, the MVP concept is gaining ever broader attention. While understanding what you have, you must also understand what the other party wants, then take the intersection of minimal and viable between the two to build a minimum viable plan — reducing the cost of trial and error and rapidly approaching the goal.
Start with a brief message expressing thanks to the other party, then spend days preparing an elaborate gift for a later visit. Get the demo running first, then fix bugs; probe quickly with something minimal first, verify it's viable, then supplement and iterate. Life and work are like this everywhere.
We all understand this principle, but sometimes it’s still hard to put into practice. Why? Deep down, we sometimes tell ourselves that settling for less means doing a shoddy job, because we always face two seemingly insurmountable mountains: perfectionism and idealism. Perfectionism makes us set our goals so high that the mountain becomes impossible to climb. Idealism makes us think the goal is easy to reach, so the mountain seems close at hand. If it looms too high and too close in front of you, climbing it becomes even harder.
Whether it’s a minimum viable solution, a product, a creation, a script, or a service, we need to first set aside the perfect picture before us and put down the ideal blueprint in our hands. Lower the bar and give ourselves more room. Take the minimum viable approach as our first step, move quickly toward the goal, and get closer to perfection and the ideal through continuous optimization and iteration. Finish first, perfect it later. Perhaps a minimum viable MVP will give you the greatest chance of becoming an MVP.