Forget your "lovable" products; the real leverage point was always learning.

"From MVP to MLP - when building is easy, meaning becomes the differentiator. Every day, we open our screens to learn that something has died. UX is dead. MVP is dead. Innovation is dead. All dead. Just like that, someone decides that something is irrelevant. And that's when they take the opportunity to introduce a new definition of what design should be."

"It wasn't too long ago that we began advocating Agile as the answer to long, clunky project work. Then we shifted our attention to Lean Startup models and now to AI, each presented as a fresh answer to old frustrations. But here's the thing that's really drawn my attention: conversations are shifting the meaning of design, while we continue to overlook learning as the real leverage point."

Design terminology constantly evolves as practitioners declare previous approaches obsolete and introduce new definitions like "lovable" to replace concepts such as MVP and UX. This cycle repeats across methodologies—from Agile to Lean Startup to AI—each presented as solutions to recurring frustrations. However, learning represents the actual leverage point being overlooked in these conversations. As building becomes easier through technological advancement, meaning emerges as the true differentiator between products. The focus on shifting definitions and new frameworks masks a fundamental truth: understanding how learning reshapes the path between outputs and outcomes matters more than adopting the latest design philosophy.

Read at Medium