Define the minimum viable version of a deliverable
Strips a project or deliverable down to the smallest version that still achieves its purpose, so you can deliver sooner.
The prompt
Help me define the minimum viable version of a piece of work.
The deliverable: [e.g. "new onboarding guide", "sales dashboard", "policy update", "client proposal"]
Its purpose - the decision or outcome it must enable: [DETAILS]
Who will use it, and what they need from it: [AUDIENCE]
The full version I had in mind: [PASTE SCOPE OR OUTLINE]
Deadline and time available: [DETAILS]
Must-haves set by others: [e.g. "legal review", "brand template"]
Steps:
1. Restate the purpose in one sentence.
2. Sort every element into: essential to the purpose / improves it / nice to have.
3. Define the minimum version: the essentials only, done to a standard that won't embarrass me or mislead anyone.
4. Plan what goes into version 2 if the first one proves useful.
Return:
1. The purpose statement.
2. Scope table: | Element | Essential / Improves / Nice to have | Reason |
3. The minimum viable version, as a short paragraph and a checklist.
4. Time saved vs. the full version (estimate).
5. Risks of delivering the smaller version, and how to handle them.
6. A one-line note to set expectations with the requester ("This is version 1; next we'll add ...").
Never cut accuracy, required approvals, or compliance steps to make it smaller.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Productivity & Planning prompts
What to fill in
- DETAILS
- AUDIENCE
- PASTE SCOPE OR OUTLINE
- e.g. "legal review", "brand template"
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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