POC

A POC solves the problem of uncertainty. Before investing in a full system, a team builds a focused experiment to check whether a technical approach, integration, or product mechanism can work.

Where it fits

A POC belongs in software management and product discovery. It often informs architecture decisions, project planning, and whether a larger MVP or production system is worth building.

Motivation

Some risks cannot be settled by discussion alone. A POC gives the team evidence by testing the riskiest assumption directly.

Example

A team might build a POC to verify whether a vector database can retrieve relevant documents quickly enough for a RAG application.

Common mistakes

• Treating POC code as production-ready code.
• Testing too many assumptions at once.
• Failing to define what success means before starting.

Related concepts

• MVP
• ADR
• Acceptance Criteria