"How Did Humans Get Smart? How To Avoid Feature Bloat"

"How Did Humans Get Smart? How To Avoid Feature Bloat"

In observing other people's actions and registered thoughts, we learn from the environment we're inserted in. What you hear, what you read, the things you go through...they all shape your future decisions, as well as what you choose to do with the information you receive. Humans are smart, but they can get smarter if they wish. The bottom line is: each person responds differently to situations depending on how their brain is wired. That's why we all have different opinions and beliefs. Humans need different upbringings and experiences to keep the knowledge wheels turning.

Besides, humans need to keep looking up to other humans. Again, human intelligence has never improved on its own, and it never will. Through the ages, humans got smarter not only by observing other humans but by refuting them, agreeing with them, and reaching their conclusions based on a number of factors. Those include their upbringing and the situations they've encountered throughout their lives.

When building a product, it is sometimes difficult to draw the line between what features to build and which ones to let go of. If that line is not drawn early and often, you end up with the most horrifying term any product will ever encounter: feature bloat. Also known as feature creep, feature fatigue, or feature overload — having too many features is something all teams must watch out for.

The 'what' and 'why' of features play a crucial role in avoiding feature bloat. It is essential to ask ourselves what problem we are trying to solve and why we are trying to solve it. A good place to get started is to use a product problem template. This template can be used by anyone in your team when they're proposing a new idea. It changes the conversation from 'let's do x' to 'how might we be able to solve this problem?' establishing product-thinking throughout your entire organization.

Instead of validating what you already know, it is important to start invalidating. Many teams try to gather "requirements" and "new feature requests," but this only leads to validating what they already know. Instead, these feature requests should be called 'customer feedback.' This shift in perspective allows you to ask questions, understand problems, and implement solutions that benefit your customers and product. By approaching things differently and asking questions that help invalidate what you know so far, you can actually avoid adding unnecessary product features altogether.

To avoid feature bloat, it is crucial to prioritize and have a clear roadmap. By setting clear objectives and building what is actually useful in its most viable and essential form, you can present it to the customer and then re-assess for the next iteration. This decision-making process at the very top of the funnel provides a simple and solid place to get started.

In conclusion, humans have gotten smarter by observing, refuting, and reaching their conclusions based on various factors. Similarly, when building a product, it is important to avoid feature bloat by asking the right questions, invalidating what we know, and prioritizing based on clear objectives. By incorporating these actionable advice, we can continue to evolve and improve both as individuals and in our product development processes.