The Microwave With Feature Creep

Hi,

My microwave was broken.

So: I need a new one.

However, I have a little quirk when it comes to buying anything that’s not perishable. I want to avoid making a bad purchase. I’d rather spend more money once than have to buy a new one in two years.

Here, I have to be careful not to fall down a rabbit hole. I can spend hours reading reviews.

But what do I even want to compare?

First Comes the Requirement Analysis

Before I can compare models, I need to understand what I actually need.

My old microwave was fancy. It had 21 different programs: thawing, reheating, hot beverages, chicken, soup, steak, popcorn, pizza, burger, sandwich, 5-star menu…

Okay, maybe I made up a few of those.

But it felt that way!

The microwave could do “everything.”

When I bought it, I thought that was cool. I could save so much time and energy. Then I wouldn’t have to use the oven so often.

Ultimately, I Never Used These Features

I used the grill function exactly once…

By accident…

And it melted my plastic cover. Nice!

So, what do I really need? Certainly not a grill function.

I also don’t need any programs. In practice, everyone sets the duration and power (wattage) themselves.

A Long Lifespan Is Important to Me

I don’t want to have to buy a new microwave in two years.

And when is something stable? When it’s simple.

Many features mean: many things can break.

Feature Creep Also Exists in Software Development

What I just described about my microwave also applies to software development! It’s easy to think of many great features. We eagerly implement them all. But do we really need them? Are they actually used? Or are they just “nice-to-have”?

Every feature comes with a cost.

And this goes beyond the implementation.

Eventually, There Will Be a Bug in Your Feature

Then someone will have to deal with it again.

Or someday you’ll expand a part of your application, and suddenly you’ll have to consider that “nice-to-have” feature. This takes more time again.

We’re building a load test? Well, the “nice-to-have” feature needs to be tested too.

In practice, we don’t have just one such feature, no. We have hundreds of them. Is the calendar view really necessary when entering data? Do customers really need to brand their admin area? Is it necessary for the customer to attach personal notes to their data? Does the microwave really need a popcorn program?

Focus on the Essentials in Your Application

You have a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). There is a core functionality.

That’s why your customers are with you.

Everything else is secondary.

In the end, by the way, I bought this microwave. No frills.

Rule the Backend,

~ Marcus