Purpose over semantics

There is a lot of confusion out there about how to call the stuff I build. You have probably heard of at least one of these words: Pretotypes, Prototypes, MLP (Minimum Loveable Product), MVP (Minimum Viable Product) or Lean Offerings. A lot of people like to discuss what these things are, what they do and where they differ.

You know what? It doesn't matter. Because that's not important in prototyping. It's not the way I think about my world. There is exactly one questions which is interesting to me:

What is the purpose of the prototype?

If we know that, the next step is to figure out what we need to build. To learn exactly that and maybe more. With the least amount of effort. That's the only thing that matters in Business Design.

More than that, I think it's dangerous to think too much in these different "academic" terms, because it can lead unexperienced prototypers or business designers down the wrong path. In the end the they think they need to deliver some business guys definition of an MVP, because he has read "The lean startup" in his last holiday and thinks that's a good idea. These weird definitions, where everybody has his own, can carry you away from the really important questions in prototyping.

Let the academic and business world fight for the right semantics. Let us go to work and try to build the things which help us learn. That's hard enough.