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creeping featurism


creeping featurism: /kree'ping fee'chr-izm/ n. 1. Describes a
   systematic tendency to load more chrome and features onto
   systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed
   when originally designed.  See also feeping creaturism.  "You
   know, the main problem with BSD UNIX has always been creeping
   featurism."  2. More generally, the tendency for anything
   complicated to become even more complicated because people keep
   saying "Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature too".
   (See feature.)  The result is usually a patchwork because it
   grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being planned.
   Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one extra
   little feature to help someone ... and then another ... and
   another.... When creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's
   like a cancer.  Usually this term is used to describe computer
   programs, but it could also be said of the federal government, the
   IRS 1040 form, and new cars.  A similar phenomenon sometimes
   afflicts conscious redesigns; see second-system effect.  See
   also creeping elegance.