MVP – what does that mean again?

How often does the phrase MVP crop up? In ‘User Story Mapping’, Jeff Patton offers three definitions, a bad one and two better ones (paraphrased):

1. The worst product you could possibly release
2. The smallest product release that achieves its desired outcomes – which are what are required to survive in the market
3. The smallest thing you could do to prove or disprove an assumption (from The Lean Start-up)

I think many people already have an idea of what you mean when you say MVP, so I find it useful to ask for clarification when the term is brought up. This is a milestone a whole team will shoot for, so you better all be aiming for the same thing.

The phrase can bring with it toxic baggage, particularly that labelling a project/release as MVP is a concession for poor quality, which is what the first definition might allow for.

I like the second definition the most. Jeff P, regarding definition 3, says that if you build something production-ready then you have probably built too much. In what sense is that viable, then? The received wisdom is that radical experimentation is a good idea, but calling something not ready for users a Minimum Viable Product muddies the waters.