Why Too Many Features is NOT a good thing

Leo Babauta from Zen Habits has a very eloquent way of describing things. I really enjoy reading his posts for inspiration on how to improve external things by focusing on yourself and your daily habits.

This particular post really struck a cord with me however. Probably because the timing couldn't have been better. Our company is going through a shift in the software tools we use to manage our contacts, sales pipeline, etc... so when Leo talks about "Feature Creep" in software tools specifically, I actually let a big laugh out loud and immediately sent the article to a few of my co-workers responsible for managing our software transition project.

I suggest you read the article, but in summary it talks about how I've felt towards software for quite a while now. Simplicity is always better. Make the software easy to use and even - dare I say - FUN to use. Don't get caught up on all the things that are possible to do like fields to track, processes to implement and so on. Instead focus on the most important thing of a centralized system - Communication & Collaboration. Your software systems should as their first priority, ecourage communication and collaboration among your team and your clients. The more we all communicate together, the more gets accomplished and the least amount of time gets wasted on trivial things. Don't let feature creep render your systems completely useless. After all, you can have all the coolest features and attempt to track every detail of your business, but your weakest link is still your employees themselves being diligent about using it. If it isn't easy and yes, fun, you will have a feature heavy, totally awesome piece of junk.

Challenge Question to the Status Quo

Is it possible to have a completely paperless office? How about for a 1 person company? A 5 person company? 50 Person company? How much would your company save if they were able to eliminate paper costs by 90-100%? What types of tools and processes would you need to set in place? Would the "older" portion of your workforce be able to use software, websites and mobile devices instead of printed emails and documents filed in filing cabinets? How would it impact your organization if all company information was completely digital with access to it from anywhere? Would you still actually need a physical office?

The technology exists so don't doubt this is possible. Will you use the tools available to you?