Estimate manual task volume
Expected users per week × manual tasks each user triggers = total manual tasks per week.
FREE WIZARD OF OZ MVP PLANNER
Wizard of Oz MVP Planner
A Wizard of Oz MVP looks automated to the customer but is run manually behind the scenes. Answer a few questions about expected volume and your team's capacity, and get an instant capacity check before you commit to launching this way.
- Uses your inputs in a transparent calculation
- Instant result with practical next steps
- No signup required
Planning guidance only. Validate important decisions with customer evidence and your delivery team.
YOUR INPUTS
Build your result
Complete every field. The result updates only when you choose Calculate.
How it works
Convert to hours needed
Total tasks × minutes per task, divided by 60, gives your weekly manual-ops hours needed.
Estimate hours available
Team members × hours each can give per week, minus your chosen reserve buffer, gives usable capacity.
Compare the two
Hours needed ÷ usable hours available becomes your utilization percentage and sustainability verdict.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a Wizard of Oz MVP?
A Wizard of Oz MVP presents customers with what looks like a fully automated product, while a human manually performs the work behind the scenes. It lets you validate demand and workflow before investing in real automation.
How is the capacity check calculated?
We estimate weekly manual-ops hours needed as (expected users × manual tasks per user × minutes per task) ÷ 60, then compare that to your usable hours available (team members × hours per member, minus your reserve buffer). The ratio becomes your utilization percentage.
What do "sustainable," "tight" and "over capacity" mean?
Sustainable (up to 70% utilization) leaves comfortable room for spikes. Tight (70-100%) is workable short-term but leaves little slack. Over capacity (above 100%) means your plan needs more hours than you have — you would burn out your team or fail customers before you learn anything useful.
Why include a reserve buffer?
Manual-ops estimates are rarely exact — task volume and time per task both vary. A buffer (typically 20-30%) protects against being caught out by a busier-than-expected week and leaves time for talking to customers, which is the whole point of running it manually in the first place.
When should I stop running it manually?
Once utilization consistently creeps toward "tight" or "over capacity," or once you have validated the workflow and are ready to invest in automating the highest-volume manual step.
How We Compare
| Feature | MVPHub | Notion | Airtable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guided, input-based calculation | Included | Limited | Limited |
| No-signup instant result | Included | Limited | Limited |
| Transparent scoring method | Included | Not included | Not included |
| Instant focused next step | Included | Limited | Limited |
Notion and Airtable are commonly used to run the manual backend of a Wizard of Oz MVP once it is planned. MVPHub calculates which parts to fake versus build; it does not run the manual operations itself.
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