Less Features is Better
I was reading 37Signal’s book about “getting real” and I came across a section where it talked about less features is better. It sparked me.
Many of you have great suggestions for the RSBANDB site. But most of the time you get the picture that we are just always saying “no.” You’ll probably think that we’re either too lazy to add the feature or are just ignoring you guys. No, we’re not lazy and we’re not ignoring you guys. This is the same with the RuneWire development. We’ve gotten several suggestions but most or all of them you won’t see in action. No, it’s not because we hate you.
So you might ask, “What the heck is going on?”. We’re doing what’s best and sticking to our vision. For example, people always ask for options and customizations. At first glance, they are in favor of the user. But how many times have you installed a software and spent hours trying to get to it just right? I know I have countless times. A true responsible developer would make the right decision about option X for you so the user wouldn’t have to worry about it.
When I was developing for Retect, I felt that cramming all the user suggestions into the product was the right thing to do. But thinking back about it, I was dead wrong. When I first learned to code, I was in the mentality that the only way to prove my abilities was to code every possible feature. But this is not the reason we write software. We write software to make help the users, not to prove our abilities.
So the story here is that every product has its own vision. Sticking to a vision helps make a great product. Not only is it stupid to implement every single suggestion, it’s just impossible; no one can satisfy everyone (with the exception of God maybe).
But don’t get me wrong. I’m not telling you to stop giving us suggestions. In fact, I encourage you to give us suggestions. Throw out whatever is on your mind. We are always listening. Suggestions and feedbacks are the things that keep us going. However, please understand that your suggestions have been considered seriously and we have our reasons. Don’t feel unwanted when we “lock” your topic.
