Doesn’t it seem that feature creep is a natural phenomenon? Both in life and in software development. We were planning on adding a new feature which we originally thought was going to take 2 weeks. Now when we reviewed the requirements, it was evident that the feature got bloated beyond original intent. Everyone has an idea on how to make the feature perfect and way to do it is to add both breadth and bells and whistles. As it stands, the development effort may be 12 weeks not 2 weeks. Now it is my job to chop it down without stripping it of the core value proposition.

And same issue while thinking of replacing the cabinets in the kitchen. What started out as a simple replacement has turned into 12 visits to Home Depot and now includes kitchen counter, refrigerator and perhaps the oven. Mind you, the last time I actually used the oven was eight months ago for reheating Thanksgiving dinner. Not only has the wish list expanded, the bill is going to be six fold as well.

Why do we go overboard? What makes us prone to the temptation of adding stuff to make stuff better?

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