Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition

063 Feature Creep

A continuous expansion or addition of new product features beyond the original scope.

Feature creep is one of the most common causes of cost and schedule overruns. The key driver is the perception that more is better, and therefore features are continuously added and rarely taken away. But adding features adds complexity, and complexity is expensive. Every feature added is a feature to be maintained, updated, and tested. For users, every added feature is something new to be learned or something to filter out if not needed. Unnecessary features increase the chance of errors and can cause frustration. A study commissioned by Philips Electronics found that at least half of returned products have nothing wrong with them; consumers ...