The seven sections.
The MVP scope 1-pager has seven sections, each constrained to a few lines:
- Customer: who we're building for (one sentence).
- Problem: the specific pain we relieve (one sentence).
- Insight: why we think we can solve it (one sentence).
- Solution: the smallest thing that proves the insight (3 bullets).
- First proof: the metric that says we're right (one number).
- Out of scope: what we explicitly will not build (5 bullets).
- Kill criteria: what makes us stop (one sentence).
The forcing function is the page.
On-time ship rate4×↑
of single-page-scope MVPs shipped within their committed window vs. multi-page scopes.
Out-of-scope adherence94%
of items listed as out-of-scope stayed out — vs. 31% in MVPs without an explicit list.
Kill-criteria use rate2 in 10
MVPs hit their kill criteria. Of those, 9 in 10 redirected to a better V1 within a quarter.
The out-of-scope list does the work.
The single highest-leverage section is "Out of Scope." It costs nothing to write and prevents the most common failure mode — feature creep masquerading as customer-driven roadmap.
✓DO
- List 5+ items you will NOT build in V1
- Date the 1-pager and treat it as immutable for the cycle
- Pin it to the team's main channel
- Reference it in every scope discussion
- Re-derive it (don't edit) for V2
✗DON'T
- Skip the out-of-scope list 'because it's obvious'
- Edit the 1-pager mid-cycle
- Hide it in a wiki page nobody reads
- Treat 'kill criteria' as a fail state
- Add 'and more' as a bullet anywhere
Before you commit to the cycle.
▸ MVP · CHECKLIST0/8 COMPLETE
- 1-pager fits on one page (literally)
- Customer is named in one sentence
- Problem is named in one sentence
- First-proof metric is a single number
- Out-of-scope list has ≥ 5 items
- Kill criteria are written down
- 1-pager is dated and pinned
- Team has signed off