I recently read an article from Jason Cohen about building what he calls Simple, Lovable, and Complete (SLC) products as opposed to Minimum Viable Products (MVP). After reading the article I agree with Jason on many points.

MVP's are built quickly to test small products to maximize learnings, but many times this also means incomplete or not fully functioning products. This can lead to disappointed customers, leading to negative experiences.

In opposition to MVPs is the SLC approach to building products where you provide small, but complete products which customers love. These products are simple, fully functional and provide instant value, even if the product lacks extensive features. This generally leads to positive customer experiences and better feedback to improve upon. Good examples are early versions of Google Docs, WhatsApp and Twitter, which were simple yet complete and loved by users.

My biggest take away from the article was the SLC method aims to balance the need for quick learning with delivering a positive customer experience.