Overheard on the NetNewsWire beta mailing list (Brent Simmons talking):

There are the six main questions I think about when I consider a new feature, any new feature:

1. Is it a useful feature that a lot of people want?

2. Can it be added in a way that doesn’t compromise the ease-of-use and quality of the app as a whole?

3. Can the feature itself be easy-to-use and powerful enough to satisfy the people who want it?

4. Is it important when it comes to competing with other applications?

5. Would having the feature increase sales or decrease sales or have no effect?

6. Would the development effort outweigh the benefits?

I think this is a great base for you to ponder whenver you decide to add a feature to some piece of software. Personally, I think too many people feel that saying yes is always the right answer, only to find out the deep trouble they end up in because of it.

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