Features I deleted this quarter
A short audit of what came out of the product, what stayed in, and what I learned about the difference.
The product is smaller now than it was on January 1st. That is the part I am proudest of from the quarter.
What I cut#
- An invite system that nobody used because nobody had anyone to invite.
- A second feed that competed with the first feed.
- A weekly email that I would not have read.
- A notification I sent once a day that I would have muted by week two.
- A settings page that contained four toggles, three of which I could not remember the purpose of two months later.
Most of these felt important when I shipped them. None of them survived contact with the dashboard.
What I kept#
The things I kept share a property: someone used them on a day when I had not asked them to. That is the only signal I trust now. Not the survey, not the email reply, not the encouraging DM. The unprompted return visit on a Tuesday at 4pm.
What I learned#
Cutting features is faster than adding them, and the product gets clearer each time I do it. The next time I am tempted to "add something simple to test it," I am going to remember what most of those things looked like in hindsight: a small, polite tax on every future decision.