Chapter 4. Build Only What Is Absolutely Necessary

Think Different

Think Mobile

Drop Nice-to-Have Features

When applications evolve based on the demands of users (or of CEOs), they tend to take a bad turn. Features used by only 10 percent of users or used only 10 percent of the time are added and get in the way of the remaining 90 percent of features. They clutter an otherwise clean interface. They interfere with the features used most often.

And when “featuritis” takes over, you quickly find yourself permanently providing tech support for things that shouldn’t be in the tool to begin with, fixing more bugs, writing more Help material, and neglecting other, more important features. And while this may sound like a lot of fun to certain ...

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