[jermo]

I once worked on a large application whose features were driven largely by customers and it wasn't pretty. You easily end up with a bloat and 'death by preferences' [1]. So I agree, your product vision should drive your features.

What I didn't realize at the time (and I think many don't) is that when you have customer requests for features that don't align with your vision you should consider making your product extensible. Keep a small core product and provide plug-ins for additional features. Customers pick the plugins they need or write their own.

[1] http://insideintercom.io/product-strategy-means-saying-no/

[talklittle]

YeahKIA: You appear to be hellbanned, FYI.

YeahKIA's comment: Plugins is an interesting approach. But I wonder how friendly it is to non expert users. Same with the writing your own part.

[jermo]

> But I wonder how friendly it is to non expert users.

Can't say from my own experience but browser extensions and IDE/Editor plugins seem to work well. If your customer is a business they might have developers to implement plugins.

Naturally it all depends on the type of product and type of customers. If your product is an online service then an API is your extension point.

[YeahKIA]

Plugins is an interesting approach. But I wonder how friendly it is to non expert users. Same with the writing your own part.