Achieving Leaner Software Software developers and managers claim that they understand the benefits of keeping their software simple, but industry reports indicate otherwise. Whether the software pudginess originates externally, from excess features, or internally, from overly complex designs and implementations, pudgy software takes more time to design, code, and debug than simpler software. Larger software requires larger teams and all the inefficiencies that larger teams entail.
Several practices can help keep porky software from bingeing on excess features.
Software Requirements Dieting. Early in the project, the most effective part of a lean software diet is a big helping of requirements scrubbing. Simplify all features that are more complicated than absolutely necessary. You also eliminate all the possible interactions between that feature and the software's other features, which reduces effort even further. The earlier in the project you remove a feature, the more time you save.