Infinitely Malleable Software (Could it?....yes, it could)

It seems to be almost a dirty secret in software development, it is certainly not something Ive seen discussed much, software is for most intents and purposes, infinitely malleable.

When a client asks 'could we make it do ', the answer, ultimately, is 'yes, we could'.

This is the ultimate problem with software, and I could easily argue that this is one of the main reasons that many software projects fail...the secret to releasing software successfully is choosing very carefully which of the infinite possible features available are right for the specific computer program at hand.
This is the reason that good ideas are easy to think of, but successful and popular implementations of any specific one are much harder to find.

Zawinski’s Law states:

"Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can."

My argument is, of course, that there is no software solution that cannot, at a pinch, so expand.

This is why it is vitally important that you personally resist the temptation.