Pillar 06

Simple over Complete

"Every feature has a cost"

Every feature you add is a feature you maintain forever.

The best products aren’t the ones with the most features. They’re the ones that do a few things exceptionally well. Simplicity is itself a feature — often the most valuable one.

What This Means in Practice

  • Default to “no” for new features
  • Consider maintenance cost, not just build cost
  • Remove before adding
  • Measure success by problems solved, not features shipped

Common Traps

  • Adding features because competitors have them
  • Saying “yes” to avoid difficult conversations
  • Building for edge cases before nailing the core
  • Measuring productivity by feature count

Remember

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Simple is hard. Simple is worth it.

Put this pillar into practice

The Pragmatic PM Toolkit includes templates built on these principles.