Is your development process feature-proof?
Posted August 18, 2009. 1 min read.
Can your software survive the addition of new features? Does adding feature actually make the software more interesting or does it just make the marketing team add another tagline to the description of the product?
Feature creep is a real problem many developers face and the problems that might arise from it should be handled by the development process.
Feature-proof development process
Having a feature-proof development process is fairly simple, you just have to follow a few guidelines:
- Priority is on fixing bugs, not implementing new features
- If you work for clients, make sure they understand that stabilizing the application will improve the user experience more than adding features
- Encourage good code usability (readability and maintainability)
- Implement a strong revision control culture (where developers actually branch and commit regularly)
- Make sure the new features are worth it, be careful of the second-system effect
