When should an MVP be rewritten, and when should it be rescued?

Starting over is attractive because it promises a clean slate. It also means rediscovering production edge cases, migrating data and running two realities during transition.

Rescue signals

• Core data model is mostly sound.
• Problems cluster in a few domains.
• Consumers can migrate incrementally.
• Production behavior can be measured.

Rewrite signals

• Core model cannot represent the product.
• Security boundaries cannot be introduced safely.
• Every small change creates unpredictable regression.
• Platform constraints block the core requirement.

1const rewriteCost =2  implementation + dataMigration + regressionDiscovery +3  parallelOperation + userMigration + releaseRisk;

Rewriting an unvalidated product can be nothing more than rebuilding uncertainty with cleaner code.