Bugs and Exponents

August 2016

This post is a draft. Content may be incomplete or missing.

Brain dump:

There’s something fundamental to the nature of software where it seems every new feature multiplies the number of possible configurations rather than adding.

This means multiplying the number of configurations which need be separately tested instead of just adding more.

Every new configuration is additional test cost and additional possibility of a bug. Bugs arise from unexpected behavior due to a combination of options that had previously not been tested.

As a result, adding a new configuration option or feature often doubles the number of cases and bugs in your product.

Another good reason to keep it simple