TL;DR: What draws customers to a product (differentiating features) is orthogonal to what keeps them around (hygiene features) – you need both to have a successful product. Question is, do you need both for an MVP?

In managerial psychology, there’s a theory called the two-factor theory of job satisfaction. It states that job satisfaction is a function of two broad category of factors, and those two factors are orthogonal to each other. Hernzberg describes these factors as hygiene factors and motivation factors.

Hygiene factors are things like a safe, respectful environment, a competitive wage, and other basics – which won’t necessarily keep you at a job, but the lack of them will drive people to leave. Motivation factors are things like meaning, growth, recognition and prestige. These are things that people actually seek out in jobs, and if they find it they will want to stay.

Since motivation factors and hygiene factors are orthogonal, it is possible (and in reality, quite common) for people to be both satisfied AND unsatisfied with their jobs.

There’s a parallel to this theory in product design. Factors that influence a customer’s satisfaction with a particular product also fall into two broad categories. There are hygiene features – basic, boring parts of a product like user management and password resets and sign-up flows – that are necessary for a smooth experience. Then there are differentiating features – features that actually set your product apart from the market, and drive customers to seek your product out.

With this framework set up, I’d like to ask, how does one allocate effort towards hygiene features versus differentiating features when building a minimal viable product? Do you need both in the MVP?

Well – as usual, it depends.

The differentiating factors are the core of your product, and your value proposition. Without it, you have nothing to sell. The whole concept of the MVP is about building the minimal thing that proves that the value proposition attracts paying customers.

The hygiene factors though – that’s tricky. Let’s bring in the idea of the adoption curve. Provided that your product offers something of value, the innovators (the most risk-tolerant 2.5% of the market) will probably try it even if it is difficult to use and rough around the edges. As you move up the adoption curve, however, the market will expect more and more polish and ease of use features to be in place.

Assessing whether your MVP needs that extra level of polish and “hygiene” turns into the question of, who are you trying to attract? Which part of the adoption curve are you addressing right now?