Glossary
MVP (minimum viable product)
A minimum viable product (MVP) is the smallest version of a product that real users can actually use, built to test whether the idea works before investing in the full build.
What an MVP is actually for
An MVP exists to buy learning, not to be a cheap first version. Its job is to answer the riskiest question about the product (will anyone use this, will they pay, does the operation hold up) with the least construction possible. Judged that way, a good MVP can be rough at the edges, as long as the core answer comes back clear.
If nothing would change based on what the MVP reveals, it is not an MVP; it is just a small product.
The common mistake
The most common failure is treating the MVP as the full feature list cut in half. The result is many features that each half-work, so no user can complete anything real, and the test proves nothing. The discipline that works is the opposite: pick one workflow and build it end to end, so at least one type of user can finish a real job from start to finish.
How Cazullo applies it
Cazullo scopes MVPs by operational outcome rather than by feature count. The question that defines version one is: which single workflow, running through a real day, would prove this product works? Everything needed for that workflow goes in; everything else waits for evidence. It is a smaller promise than a long feature list, and a much more honest one.