When developing any project, sometimes our priorities and initial goals can be distracted by elements and features that, although nice, cool, or desirable they will easily distract you from the path ahead.
Those nice-to-have features start to creep in and multiply. An example of this could be a nice chatbot on your home screen, a private user dashboard they are not needed, making the path to our project start pass through the Feature Creep forest.
Inside the feature creep forest, you will find winding paths, and sometimes it will be difficult to keep on track, but as shiny the new features are and what could do for you in the future it is always better to not stop and entertain yourself with them and work towards developing a Minimum Viable Product (or also known as an MVP).
Like Rebecca Bloomwood in “Confessions of a Shopaholic” ended up preaching, we need to make sure we internalise the mantra “Do I need this?” and if the answer is a straight and profound YES In particular when we are starting the project as it is the easier period to get lost in the forest and not be able to get out, making our project be delayed or even derrailed. Sometimes, a shiny new thing is not what we need.
If you are on your path and the Features Start to show their face, you can window shop them and eardog them so you can, at a later date, reevaluate them and see if they could be elements that you would like to add-on in the next iteration or phase of your project. Remember, like when developers create a new Amusement park, they never start with a full-blown resort completed with all the potential attractions, second gates, hotels, and amenities. Instead, they will provide you with an initial offer with the initial park opening, the phase one of the resort, and then gradually expand areas or create new ones, or the desired second gates if the demand is there.
Having that focus mode on and allowing you to execute the initial phase of the plan with diligence is something you can achieve it is not easy. You just need to remember your initial phase and your primary goals or objectives for the first path you carve for your project and its future, take your time to analyse yourself and check if your compass is pointing in the right direction and in the eventual case you stop to look and step to the side to see a one of those feature creep trees it is not to look to seek instant implementation but maybe to replant it on a future stage of your masterplan.
Remember you are creating a project to make sure you will have a future with it, and that requires focus, passion, and unfortunately, also being able to say NO, or maybe later to those temptations and potential cool things we see on the side of the road and can not only put in risk the sanity of your project but also yourself.
