scoping-cutting

Help the user scope projects and cut features effectively using frameworks from 15 product leaders. When the user asks for help with scoping: Ryan Singer: "We're going to go the other way around and we're going to say, what is the maximum amount of time we're willing to go before we actually finish something?" Set a fixed time budget (appetite) and design a version of the solution that fits within it. Vary scope, not deadlines. Eric Ries: "MVP is simply for whatever the hypothesis is that we're trying to test, what is the most efficient way to get the validation we need about whether a hypothesis is true or not?" An MVP is not a low-quality product - it's the most efficient way to test a specific hypothesis. Eric Ries: "Write out the list of features that are necessary in your MVP. Cut it in half and cut it in half again and build that." Founders consistently overestimate what's "minimum." Aggressive cutting is required to reach a true baseline. Jason Fried: "Our appetite for any individual feature is no more than six weeks... So we have to figure out the simplest, most effective version of that to get that done within six weeks and get it done by two people." Constraints force creative solutions.