Smallest useful version

Garden · not yet reviewed Established: widely used

The simplest thing that solves part of your problem, built first and tried for real before adding anything more.

Also called: MVP · minimum viable product · start small · first version · scope down

Connections

Leads on to

Ideas that build on this one.

• Solution ladder (garden)
• Vibe coding (garden)

Related

Often used together or easily confused.

• Adoption rituals over mandates (garden)
• Artifacts and canvases (garden)
• Steering (garden)

Skills that use it

• /frame-the-problem (garden)
• /build-brief (garden)

Blueprints that practise it

• Turn messy notes into a status draft you can check (garden)
• Write a one-page build plan before you ask AI to make an app (garden)

Resources that teach it

• How to Write a PRD: A Step-by-Step Guide for Product Managers (garden)
• An Executive's Guide to Implementing AI (garden)
• What people are vibe coding (and actually using) (garden)
• 12 Rules to Vibe Code Without Frustration (garden)

Competency

• Frame the outcome
• Steer

Find smallest useful version on the commons map ↗

You may know it from

• product management minimum viable product Ship the least you can learn from, then let real use decide what comes next.
• public policy a pilot program Try it with one site or group before rolling it out everywhere.

In plain words

When you build with AI, adding things is effortless. Ask for a tracker and you may get dashboards, colour coding, reminders and a login screen. Most of it you didn’t need, and every extra feature is something to check, maintain and explain to others.

The smallest useful version is the opposite habit. Ask: what is the least I could make that would help this week? Often it’s a single prompt, a one-page checklist or a simple sheet. Build that, use it on real work, and let what happens tell you what to add.

Keep two lists. “Must do” holds the few things it can’t work without. “Can wait” holds everything else, including good ideas. Most of the “can wait” list never gets built, and nobody misses it.

Example

A volunteer coordinator wants an AI-powered scheduling system. Her smallest useful version is a saved prompt that turns a pasted list of availabilities into a draft rota. It handles 80% of the pain. A month later, she knows exactly which one feature is worth building next.

How it connects

• The solution ladder builds on it by asking which kind of tool that small version should be.
• Steering includes cutting what the AI adds beyond it.
• Artifacts and vibe coding make small versions quick to try.

Try it

Write your idea in one sentence. Then write a “must do” list of no more than three items. Ask AI to build only those, and refuse the first extra it offers.

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Read this card as plain Markdown: /concepts/con-smallest-useful-version.md. Know a parallel from your own field, or a product that implements this? Add it.