This is a term I’ve just coined, for my personal projects. It’s a good way to see if something is worth doing or not.
An MSP is the minimum you need to accomplish, to get the project to a state where even if it plateaus and never grows beyond that, you’re pretty happy about the result and are willing to leave it running forever.
Link to LinkedIn post:
Actually, copying the original post here in case LinkedIn shuts down 10 years later and nobody can find it anymore:
MSP is the minimum I would have to build and accomplish, such that even if the project never advances any further or gets zero more traction, I’m happy with what I’ve created and don’t mind maintaining it forever.
An MSP is more mature than the MVP. Not only is it valuable for others who use it, it should also bring me some peace and minimize regret. It’s also important that getting to the MSP should not depend on any external factors other than your own raw effort. It helps you detach from the outcome and focus more on enjoying the process.
When I have an idea, I think about its MSP. I only go ahead with the project if the MSP gets me excited.
For example, DenseLayers’ MSP is a platform that has only one active member – myself – who shares his thoughts on the coolest new research paper in Deep Reinforcement Learning, every 3-4 weeks.
By conventional standards, a platform with zero traction is a failure. But for me, it’s my Minimum Successful Product and I’d be happy to keep DenseLayers online while I do other things like focus on teaching.
