The MVP Trap
Most MVPs ship with accessibility debt, performance problems, unmaintainable code. "We'll fix it later" becomes never. Technical debt compounds. Velocity drops 6 months in.
The Non-Negotiables
Even in MVPs, we ship with: semantic HTML, accessible navigation, performance budget, consistent design tokens, test coverage on critical paths. We cut scope, not quality.
What We Cut vs Keep
CUT: Advanced features, animations, edge case handling, third-party integrations. KEEP: Core user flow, accessibility, performance, clean architecture, design system foundation.
The Process
Week 1: Core user flow only. Week 2-3: Polish core flow, add essentials. Week 4: Performance audit, accessibility check, deploy. Post-launch: Iterate based on usage data.
Outcomes
Shipped 3 MVPs in 6 months. Zero accessibility debt. All passed Core Web Vitals. Iteration speed stayed consistent. No major refactor needed after launch.
Key Takeaways
Related Insights
LCP under 1.2s, CLS < 0.1, INP < 200ms — performance budget as design constraint
Performance as UX
How shipping under 1.2s LCP increased conversion by 34%
Tokens first, components second — platform-agnostic systems
Design Systems That Scale
Token-based architecture for cross-platform consistency
