Editing Feature creep (section)

==Control==
There are several methods to control feature creep, including: strict limits for allowable features, multiple variations, and pruning excess features.

===Separation===
Later feature creep may be avoided by basing initial design on strong software fundamentals, such as logical separation of functionality and data access, e.g. using submenus that are optionally accessible by [[power user]]s who desire more functionality and a higher verbosity of information. It can be actively controlled with rigorous [[change management]] and by delaying changes to later delivery phases of a project.<ref>{{citation|title=Applying Cross-Functional Evolutionary Methodologies to Web Development|author=Kenneth S. Norton|isbn=3-540-42130-0|publisher=paper in Web Engineering: Managing Diversity and Complexity of Web published by Springer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ak5slktYul8C|year=2001}}</ref>

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===Variations and options===
Another method of controlling feature creep is maintaining multiple variations of products, where features are  limited and reduced in the more basic variations, e.g. [[Microsoft Windows]] editions. For software [[user interface]]s, viewing modes or operation modes can be used (e.g. basic mode or expert mode), between which the users can select to match their own needs.

Both in many [[graphical user interface]]s and [[command-line interface]]s, users are able to opt in for a higher verbosity manually. In the latter case, in many command-line programs, adding a <code>-v</code> or <code>--verbose</code> option manually, does show more detailed information that might be less relevant to minimal users, but useful to power users or for debugging and troubleshooting purposes. 

Because the ever-growing, ever-expanding addition of new features might exceed available resources, a minimal core "basic" version of a product can be maintained separately, to ensure operation in smaller operating environments. Using the "80/20 rule", the more basic product variations might fulfill the needs of the majority (e.g. ~80%) of the users, so they would not be subjected to the complexity (or extra expense) of features requested by the advanced 20% of users. The extra features are still available, but optional and ready to be utilized for those who solicit them, but they have not been implemented into the basic versions of the products.

====Modularity====
Another solution for feature creep is [[modularity]]. Power users who require more functionality can retrofit needed features by downloading software modules, [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-in]]s, add-ons (also known as add-ins) and custom themes to match their personal requirements.

===Pruning===
At some point, the cost of maintaining a particular subset of features might become prohibitive, and pruning can be used. A new product version can omit the extra features, or perhaps a transition period would be used, where old features were [[deprecated]] before eventual removal from the system. If there are multiple variations of products, then some of them might be phased out of use. One major example is the [[Samsung Galaxy S6]], released March 2015, of which significantly many software/menu features and also some hardware features were pruned. A “more functional” variation of it hasn't been released.{{cn|date=September 2022}}