Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated

Flexibility-Usability Tradeoff

As the flexibility of a system increases, the usability of the system decreases.

The flexibility-usability tradeoff is related to the well-known maxim, jack of all trades, master of none. Flexible designs can perform more functions than specialized designs, but they perform the functions less efficiently. Flexible designs are, by definition, more complex than inflexible designs, and as a result are generally more difficult to use. For example, a Swiss Army Knife has many attached tools that increase its flexibility. These tools taken together are less usable and efficient than corresponding individual tools that are more specialized but provide a flexibility of use not available from any single tool. The flexibility-usability ...