Most teams start with the MVP. But what if the key to shipping great products wasn’t starting small — but starting big?

Lea Verou

The Hovercar Framework proposes starting product design with an idealized North Star UI vision before working backwards to practical MVPs. This approach breaks complex product problems into three components: the ideal solution (North Star), current constraints, and reasonable compromises. The framework includes six stages from skateboard (bare minimum) to hovercar (unconstrained ideal), helping teams align on vision, make better tradeoffs, and create products that can evolve toward their ultimate goals. Case studies demonstrate how explicit North Star planning can make seemingly impossible features feasible through engineering momentum and iterative evolution.

The Hovercar Framework for Deliberate Product Design • Lea Verou