June 16, 2008
There is a curve that seems to apply to all software over time:
When you start you almost certainly don’t have enough features (and if you do, you probably launched too late)
So, adding features initially makes things easier for users - you’re able to support more user requirements with fewer work arounds. The software continues to get better and better.
But, eventually features start to weigh the application down - more navigation, more options, more for new users to learn - until eventually you end up no better than a product with too few features.
What can you do?
It’s pretty simple. You need to either know when to stop adding features (which in practice probably means having a better system for prioritising your development work).
Or, failing that, an anti-gravity machine.