Great advice, with many application, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%27s_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%27s_law A complex system that works is

Great advice, with many application, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%27s_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%27s_law A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. I'm not sure if it always works for a MVP; I think some technical/scientific ideas (as opposed to market opportunity ideas) need quite a bit of work before a user/customer can appreciate them. That is, ideas that are cool/intriguing, but don't meet a need. Uh, I guess you could argue that a MVP at this stage is seeking collaborators (not users). e.g. Codd's first relational paper - peers were fascinated, but a deliverable took 10 more years. But the relational concept itself was fully formed, and without that, he wouldn't have intrigued people. One could argue that this is to do with the "Minimum" threshold in "MVP". I'm just saying that an arbitrarily small MVP won't always work - there is a "minimum". esr in CatB suggested similar to MVP for open source - but again, I think this also needs to connect with a need, or something the audience appreciates i.e. "something really neat". Historically, it seems hard for open source to start revolutionary new projects (revolutionary academic projects are often open source, but remain academic). It's also hard for big business - it often seems to take a startup to do it. Here's what esr said: http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/homesteading/cathedral-bazaar/ar01s10.html http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/homesteading/cathedral-baza... (3rd paragraph): Your program doesn't have to work particularly well. It can be crude, buggy, incomplete, and poorly documented. What it must not fail to do is (a) run, and (b) convince potential co-developers that it can be evolved into something really neat in the foreseeable future. Steve Jobs talked about people not knowing that they want something until you show it to them - so it has to be complete enough for them to recognize it. And "The Innovator's Dilemma" mentions many cases where the revolutionary new thing wasn't wanted by mainstream customers... however, to be fair, it did find a market with other customers - it started small, in a small, niche market. BTW http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Carnegie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Carnegie Perhaps one of Carnegie’s most successful marketing moves was to change the spelling of his last name from “Carnagey” to Carnegie, at a time when Andrew Carnegie (unrelated) was a widely revered and recognized name.