MVP Scoping Skill

This skill guides Claude to apply MVP (Minimum Viable Product) thinking during feature discussions and planning conversations.

When to Use

Apply this skill when:

• Users describe a new feature they want to build

• Discussing scope or requirements for upcoming work

• Users ask "what should we build first?" or similar

• Planning conversations before formal issue creation

• Users seem to be over-engineering or gold-plating solutions

• Reviewing feature proposals or specifications

Core Principles

1. Ruthless Prioritization

Ask: "What is the absolute minimum needed for this feature to be functional?"

• Focus on core functionality only

• Defer edge cases to future iterations

• Ship something that works, iterate later

• If in doubt, cut it out

2. Vertical Slices Over Horizontal Layers

Build end-to-end functionality, not isolated layers:

• Good MVP: "Users can create and save a basic profile"

• Bad MVP: "Complete user model with all fields" (no UI, no save)

3. The "Ship Tomorrow" Test

For each requirement, ask: "If we had to ship tomorrow, would this be essential?"

• Essential = Must have for feature to work at all

• Nice-to-have = Can be added in a follow-up

• Polish = Defer until core is proven

4. Explicit Deferrals

Always document what you're NOT doing in a "Deferred" section.

Guiding Questions

When scoping features, ask:

• What's the single most important user outcome?

• What's the simplest way to achieve that outcome?

• What can we remove and still have something useful?

• What assumptions can we validate with this MVP?

• What would embarrass us if we shipped without it? (Only those are essential)

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Over-Engineering

• Adding configuration for things that could be hardcoded

• Building abstraction layers "for future flexibility"

• Implementing features "while we're in there"

Premature Optimization

• Performance tuning before measuring

• Caching before proving it's needed

• Scaling considerations for v1

Gold-Plating

• Perfect error messages for unlikely scenarios

• Comprehensive validation for internal tools

• Beautiful UI for admin-only features

Integration with Linear Workflow

When this skill influences planning, the resulting Linear issues should:

• Have clear, minimal acceptance criteria

• Include a "Deferred" section documenting what's out of scope

• Focus on vertical slices that could ship independently

• Avoid sub-issues for "nice to have" features

Remember: "Ship the minimum that works."