Original subtitles

- Hi, I'm William Lidwell,

and this is Universal Principles of Design.

In this movie, Feature Creep,

the feature that breaks the project's back.

On August 10th, 1628, the Swedish warship Vasa

embarked on its maiden voyage.

It was, according to many nautical experts,

one of the most spectacular warships ever built.

Designed to be the flagship of the Swedish navy,

the Vasa carried 64 heavy bronze cannon

and a crew of 300.

It also came equipped with hundreds of sculptures

and other artwork by some of the finest

wood carvers and craftsmen of their day.

The ship was said to be a magnificent sight,

so magnificent a sight that it cost

more than five percent of Sweden's

gross national product.

The problem was that the ship

was only designed to carry 34 cannon,

half the amount it launched with.

This doubling of cannon required the addition

of a second deck, and the original design

certainly did not account for the sheer

volume and weight of all the lavish ornamentation

it ultimately received.

The result, the Vasa, on its maiden voyage,

sank in the Stockholm harbor

after traveling less than one mile.

The cause, extra guns, decks, and carvings

added during construction compromised its stability.

Feature creep literally sank the ship.

What is feature creep?

Feature creep is a continuous expansion

or addition of new product features

beyond the original scope.

It's one of the most common causes

of cost and schedule overruns.

It usually occurs because features

are easy or convenient to add,

this is particularly common in software development,

features accumulate over multiple generations

of a product like this example of Microsoft Word

with all of its toolbars visible,

or features are added to appease

internal project stakeholders.

This is often due to what's called

the internal audience problem.

Designers or marketers think they know

what's best for the customer,

but they're often wrong.

The key driver that underlies all feature creep

is the belief that more is better,

and therefore, features are continuously added

and rarely taken away.

But this is flat out wrong.

Adding features adds complexity,

and complexity costs.

For example, a study commissioned

by Phillips Electronics found that at least

half of the returned products

had nothing wrong with them.

Consumers just couldn't figure out how to use them.

Best case, feature creep changes the scope

of a project, increasing time and cost

with nominal impact on performance

and the customer experience.

Worst case, it has unintended performance

or usability consequences.

This is what sank the Vasa.

So what to do about all of this?

As they say, recognition is the first step to recovery.

So step one is to be on the lookout for feature creep

in design and development,

and educate your peers about the trap.

Feature additions and changes typically come

in little bits and pieces, and so it's easy

to get ensnared.

This is why it's called feature creep

and not feature explosion.

Step two, ensure features are linked

to customer needs and are not added

out of convenience or appeasement.

Whenever someone proposes a change

just because it's easy or they know

what's best for the customer,

give them a link to this movie.

Step three, when doing updated versions

of a design, ask not just what can be added,

but what can be subtracted.

Every good product release should subtract

as well as add.

And step four, create a project milestone

to formally freeze the product specification.

Freeze means no more changes.

Shout feature creeper at anybody attempting

to add features beyond this point.

So whether you use your knowledge

of feature creep to help keep your projects

on time and on budget, to incorporate

feature subtraction as a formal part

of your product update cycle,

or to avoid the unintended and sometimes

catastrophic consequences of scope changes,

remember the next feature you add could well be

the feature that breaks the project's back.