MVP: Small is the new big

MVP, easy to say, hard to do. “Minimum Viable Product” is a concept preached within tech, where you build just enough features to validate an idea and continue its development. It’s also a concept that goes against human nature, showing off something that you know isn’t doing everything it could. But perhaps this technique could be useful in our lives - a more structured approach to Mindfulness.

We’ve reached a point where we have saturated our digital life goals MVP, we have enough to do far more than we need or even want to do. Look at the home screen on your phone, brimming full of features you don’t use, a visual representation of our crowded lives. With 2.2 million apps available to download, how many do you actually use every day? Maybe 5?

Silicon Valley are taking note and MVPing your life is the new app culture. Look at Amazon Echo, which radically simplifies their entire service. The rise of AI also demonstrates a movement towards providing the end user with the simplest service to satisfy their needs. Content curation is becoming the differentiator in social. Users are over something before it even began, so efforts are increasing to ensure a personalised - and therefore great - experience.

As users, we need to focus on two simple questions: What is your MVP? What features can you simply discontinue?

I guess this will evolve and change as we do. For now, I just know that the Avocado emoji is my MVP. That’s enough for me.