How to avoid feature creep

Feature creep and scope creep, as I understand them, are a real problem for many teams and organizations.

Here’s a simple way to avoid it: when someone has an idea for a feature, don’t add it to your list of things to do or add to the product.

Instead, ask: why? Why do they want that feature? What can it do for them.

Then catalog the motivations behind the request and get back to plan.

Feature requests should be explored and understood, and eventually researched and validated, not executed straight away.