Lately with all of the political bantering, I have really been challenged to identify my personal beliefs on our current and optimal government scenarios. While I won't start any fights by laying out my 13 point plan…I did want to share my thoughts on how one of our national issues is paralleled with my everyday work life. This issue relates very closely to application development.

Application development is tricky business. One of the toughest pieces is figuring out what features should be added or avoided. We've all seen products that we wish did a little more or the complex product that no one knows how to use because it has every feature under the moon. When features become easy and inexpensive to add, it is our natural instinct to add as many as we can. The more the better, right? Actually, that line of thinking is totally wrong–the history of successful Internet applications has taught us otherwise. People prefer Gmail over Outlook and small companies choose Quickbooks over Peachtree. When an application ends up more complex than first planned, we call this scope creep.

At some point in the development process, scope creep crosses the line between what the masses need and what the few want. Would "Feature X" really be beneficial to some people…of course! But how many? Are they your target? Will this feature actually end up watering down your core product? When we start to primarily address the needs of the minority few, the product's core competency is forgotten. Each additional feature that is added takes up additional resources, such as time and money.

What does this have to do with government? Our nation's corporate structure has allowed for massive scope creep within their policies and programs. Politicians see a solution that could help a few people, so our govenrnment's resources are spent (wasted?) on a program that affects a fraction of the population. Usually, these programs require massive amounts of resources. Are they useful/good? Possibly, but I suggest that we let capitalism and charity step in. Private companies can fill the void if there is a need in the market. If there is a civic need, we should partner with the local church or with charities already in place. Private companies and charities tend to have a much better system of checks and balances, managing their resources more effectively then the government agencies.

Our governement seems to waste resources making things more and more complex each day. I think Bertholdt Brecht got it right when he said, "…it is simplicity that is difficult to make."

Then again, maybe I should publish my 13 point plan

Benj (for President)