Minimal Viable Expertise
The minimum knowledge and skills needed to provide a relevant, valuable solution to a specific problem someone is facing.
Also known as: MVE, Minimal Viable Expert, Just Enough Expertise
Category: Learning & Education
Tags: expertise, teaching, entrepreneurship, knowledge-sharing, learning
Explanation
Minimal Viable Expertise (MVE) challenges the assumption that you need to be a world-class expert before helping others. Instead, it focuses on having just enough expertise to solve a specific problem for a specific person—and being honest about that scope.
**The Core Insight:**
You don't need to know everything; you need to know the right thing for the right person at the right time. Someone one step ahead of a beginner is often better positioned to help that beginner than a world expert, because they remember the struggles and speak the language.
**The MVE Framework:**
1. **Identify a concrete problem** - Not vague goals, but specific pain points
2. **Define your target** - Who exactly has this problem?
3. **Determine minimum knowledge** - What's the essential insight that solves it?
4. **Validate your solution** - Does it actually work for real people?
5. **Scope your claims** - Be honest about what you can and cannot help with
**Why MVE Works:**
- **Relevance beats comprehensiveness** - Targeted solutions outperform generic expertise
- **Proximity aids teaching** - Recent learners understand beginner struggles
- **Action beats accumulation** - Helping people teaches more than studying
- **Iteration improves expertise** - Expertise grows through application
**The Expertise Spectrum:**
- **No expertise:** Can't help anyone
- **MVE:** Can help specific people with specific problems
- **Growing expertise:** Can help more people with more problems
- **Deep expertise:** Can help anyone in your domain
**Ethical Boundaries:**
- Be honest about your scope and limitations
- Don't claim expertise you don't have
- Refer out when problems exceed your competence
- Continuously expand your expertise
**Application:**
Instead of waiting until you're an 'expert,' identify one concrete problem you can solve today. Help people with that specific problem. Expand from there.
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