Drugs, The Kardashians and Features
What do these all have in common? They are addictive junk!
There’s this theory that people tend to add and not subtract in every part of life. There is plenty of evidence to prove this theory; for instance, the governments legal documents are constantly growing. The government does not get rid of documents, they add to the pile. People are attracted to this idea of more — turning your small McDonald’s meal into a large for just a $1 more, or purchasing multiple pairs of Lululemon leggings because having just one pair is not enough for your wardrobe. More is desirable, but more of everything isn’t necessarily in your best interest, or for that matter good for your health or wallet. We see the same problem in software.
No client has ever asked us to build a large project from the get go but some how they all seem to turn out that way. Clients want more features, additional here, and further padding there to fuel their “app insecurity.” Features are like crack… just say no!
In our line of work, features are the most addictive form of drug. Until they are blue in the face, clients want to add and never want to eliminate or consolidate. It’s a dangerous game your playing with your wallet and the success of your app. If we didn’t care about our clients’ success, we’d let their feature addiction grow BUT we do care! We are trying to save you money and build you a thriving app. We would be superior drug dealers if we just let you have at it, but we sleep better at night knowing that we helped you fight off that addiction to see your app live another day.
Don’t let the tantalizing taste of features cloud your judgment. The desire of more is embedded in us — it’s in our DNA, but more is torturing the inside of your wallet, it’s invading your app, and it’s weakening your chance of success.
Why do we gravitate towards things that are bad for us? We continue to eat fast food even though we know it’s the pits. We watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians because it’s addictive but senseless. These indulgences that we cant quite seem to let go of are overwhelmingly enslaving. Consciously, we know these things are garbage but for whatever reason we indulge in them anyway. Features, adding features for that matter, is an addiction to steer clear of. Clients that are more experienced, and really know what they are doing know how to say no. Many have trained themselves to substitute a salad for fries, to walk past the candy isle, or to only buy one pair of Nike’s because more is unnecessary.
Say no to adding features.
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