A feature factory is a team that continuously adds new features to their product without assessing whether those features add to value to the customer or the business. This leads to bloated products that are unusable and often don’t sell well either. Such products are often disrupted by simpler, nimbler products — the kind that they used to be.
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Microsoft Word has been adding features so long that 80% of their feature requests are for things already in the product. Who is taking share from Word? Google Docs: the ultra-simple solution with a tenth of Word’s capabilities. More is not always better — unless it is more well-suited to the customer’s need.
See Chapter 4, “Establishing the Why with Product Vision and Strategy” in Product Roadmaps Relaunched to learn more. Got stories of feature factories? Tell me a story.