5 Proof Gates Between an AI Demo and a Shippable MVP

Short summary

The author defines five 'proof gates' that separate a convincing AI demo from a responsibly shippable MVP: defining a testable core user loop, specifying data contracts and persistence behavior, bounding AI agent implementation prompts, and verifying round-trip data recovery. Each gate is an observable condition that must be satisfied before a product claim is trusted.

• •Five proof gates: core loop definition, data contract specification, persistence round-trip verification, bounded implementation prompts, and scope control via Not Today lists
• •A proof gate is a compact question: what evidence would let another person verify this claim is true?
• •AI makes feature generation cheap, making uncontrolled scope the primary risk in AI-assisted development

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.