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Jared Spool Profile picture
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6 Jun, 10 tweets, 3 min read
This is better than the Shopify scooter → car diagram.

However, it still leaves out the most important aspect of an MVP: That it’s an instrument for learning, not an actual product.

Eric Reis defined it as the least work necessary to learn the most about users needs.

1/
We should be creating simple MVPs to learn what people need.

That’s not how it’s used in many places. Instead, people see it as the least we can build to claim we shipped something.

2/
When we think in terms of learning, instead of shipping, we don’t need to give it to everyone. Just enough to learn something.

And we also need to make sure we have the instrumentation and process in place to actually learn.

Shipping something and moving on is not learning.
3/
So, while the diagram is correct in that an MVP needs to be more than raw functionality, it’s incorrect in assuming that building something “full pyramid slice” will be any different, if the learning isn’t built into the MVP process.

4/fin
Bonus thought:

Maybe all MVPs should have a self-destruct expiration date?

The MVP can only be in the field for, say 30 days. Then it destructs.

Teams need to replace it with something else, that’s better designed.
Choosing to ship crappy designs, under the guise of an MVP, so you can ship quickly, just creates UX and Tech Debt.

Classic Beans and Noses.

medium.com/uie-brain-spar…

Correction: The Scooter → Car model is a Spotify model, not Shopify as I stated in the first tweet of this thread.

One day, Twitter will let us edit our tweets.
By the way, I’m hosting a free, live discussion about MVPs on June 28th at 2pm ET (18.00 GMT) in our Leaders of Awesomeness community.

RSVP here to reserve your space: Leaders.CenterCentre.com
Someone (@ppedrazzi to be specific) just reminded me that I wrote about this before.

jmspool.medium.com/avoiding-the-w…

(I’ve now reached that age where I need to Google topics to see if I’ve written about them before.)

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More from @jmspool

Jared Spool Profile picture
5 Jun
It seems quick for some hiring managers to complain that applicants may not have a portfolio available to apply to their open UX positions.

Their complaint is often that it makes it harder for them to determine if the candidate is qualified for the position.

1/11
This is not as much a problem for the candidate than it is for the hiring manager.

Smart hiring managers know how to evaluate candidates who may, for many legit reasons, not have an up-to-date portfolio that showcases work.

2/11
Legit reasons include:

• having work under NDA,

• not having work that has shipped due to reasons they had no control over,

• and having family or life obligations that make it hard to do additional work outside of their jobs.

(There are other reasons too.)
3/11
Read 14 tweets
Jared Spool Profile picture
5 Jun
UX Hiring Managers:

Do you have an open UX position right now? Designers, researchers, content, writers, or managers?

Reply with a link to the job posting. I’ll then retweet it to my 108k followers.

Lots of folks tell me they get great applicants this way.
Right now, you’ll get more applications if you are open to consider more junior UXers.

There’s a ton of skilled, passionate UX professionals who are early in their career and excited to do great things for you.

You’ll also get extra karma points.
If you are open to informational discussions or interviews, especially for people early in their career, please open your DMs and say so.

You’ll get even more karma points if you spend time helping folks learn more about what they can do to someday work for you.
Read 4 tweets
Jared Spool Profile picture
26 Mar
Sideways boat memes have made my day.


(h/t @chousmith)
Read 6 tweets
Jared Spool Profile picture
12 Mar
The more I learn about NFTs, the more I think, boy, this is just a bad idea.
The more I learn about NFTs, it just gets worse.

A great thread on how an NFT is basically just a receipt that you paid for a receipt.

And here we learn that NFTs are basically a platform for long-game blackmailers, since they're built on a complete house of cards.

Read 6 tweets
Jared Spool Profile picture
12 Mar
You’ve got several good theories here. Let’s debunk them.
Let’s start with why do prosumer cameras still report these numbers. Your theory is because they are still useful in photography. That’s good, but I have an alternative theory.
My theory is because it’s an anachronism. The things those numbers represent are actually no longer meaningful. But, as you say, photographers have been trained on them. So, they come to expect them.
Read 19 tweets
Jared Spool Profile picture
11 Mar
This *is* a great discussion. Thank you.

Let's talk about the two things you've raised:

(1) what data is made visible to the users (and why you're wrong about this 😀) and
(2) the flexibility of the tool (and why that's not relevant to this discussion)

I believe your notion that professional users (whatever that is) have more need for raw data than "you or I" is not correct.

Let's take pro photographers. The camera reveals all sorts of settings, most of which are anachronistic and where there's many complex interdependencies.
(For example, adjusting the ISO changes requires changes to both the shutter speed and the f-stop to get a similar image.)

As computational power has increased in the cameras, the need to know these numbers has vastly decreased.
Read 14 tweets

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