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Avoid feature creep · waynesutton | DecimalAI

productivityby waynesutton

Avoid feature creep

waynesutton/avoid-feature-creep

Source waynesutton/convexskills ↗License Apache-2.0

Prevent feature creep when building software, apps, and AI-powered products.

SkillScore77Maintained

Automatic

Product Management pack

Last verified 8/21/2026

What it changes

Passed 17 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 7 of 22 without it.

Without skill32%

With skill77%

Checks it passed that the model alone missed

Features are categorized into Core, Supporting, Peripheral, and Bloat.
Scope changes are recorded via explicit git commits to a SCOPE.md file.
The rule specifies asking Why three times to discover the real underlying need.

and 13 more in the full report

11 fixed6 passed either way4 still failing1 broke

Pass-rate lift: +45 pp
Tokens: +106%
Agent turns: 0%
Response time: -30%

Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/21/2026v1 · latest is v217 of 22 cases passed with skill

Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.

This benchmark measured an earlier version of the skill.

A newer attempt on gemini-3.6-flash on 10/3/2026 did not produce a publishable comparison (not comparable). The snapshot above is the previously measured run.

Use this skill

Save it into your project's skills folder. Claude Code picks it up in its next session.

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep/SKILL.md

Want it pinned and updatable? pip install "decimalai>=0.15", then decimalai skills add waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep, and start Claude Code with claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.agents"

1 · One-time — install the CLI (docs ↗)

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"

2 · Get the skill — writes .agents/skills/waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep/ and pins it in .decimal/skills.lock

decimalai skills add waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep

No CLI? Get the same file — curl · raw file

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep/SKILL.md

Raw file: /s/waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep/SKILL.md ↗ · machine-readable summary at /s/waynesutton-avoid-feature-creep.json ↗

Safety checks: 3 of 3 passed

Code scan CleanIntent PassedContent Clean

See it in action

One of 11 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.

1 of 11

Prompt

At the end of a workday where developer time was spent prompting AI coding assistants, what four summary items should be logged to maintain daily discipline?

What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked	Without skill	With skill
The daily log records features completed, scope additions, whether additions were validated, and tomorrow's focus.	Missed	Passed

case-16 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/21/2026 · answers are capped and redacted

What's inside

The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.

SKILL.md111 lines3 files

Avoid feature creep

The request sets the scope. Everything the diff contains should trace back to a sentence in the ask. Anything else is a suggestion, not a change.

The core rule

Build what was asked. Not what would be nice, not what a senior engineer would also do, not what the codebase "should" have. If a line of the diff cannot be justified by the request, it does not belong in the diff.

This applies to product scope and to code scope. A PRD that grows past its problem statement has the same disease as a bug fix that ships with a refactor.

Signals that creep is starting

Stop when you notice any of these:

"While we're here" or "might as well" appears in your reasoning
Adding a config option, flag, or parameter for a case nobody asked about
Refactoring code adjacent to the change because it looked untidy
Adding a second feature to make the first one feel complete
Adding error handling for edge cases the user has never hit
Adding tests, types, or docs for code outside the change
Generalizing a one off into a reusable abstraction
Copying a competitor feature without a stated user need
A PRD section titled "Future" or "Nice to have" that keeps getting longer
The change touches a file the request never implied

Each of these might be a good idea. None of them are in scope unless the user says so.

What to do instead

Finish the ask. Ship the smallest change that fully answers the request.
Collect the extras as you go. Do not act on them.
Put them in one place at the end:
- In a chat or PR summary, under a Suggestions heading, one line each
- In a PRD, under Out of scope with a one line reason
- In a repo with a prds/ folder, append to the relevant PRD's Out of scope section
Let the user pick. "The agent thought so" is not approval.

Suggestions are cheap to write and free to ignore. Unrequested code costs review time, adds bugs, and blurs what the change was for.

Stakeholders, including agents

Track record

Benchmark

17 / 22

test cases passed, vs 7 / 22 without

Adoption

Users: 0
Times used: 0

Safety and source details

SkillSafety

✓ 3 of 3 passed

Code scan15 of 15 checks clean

0 critical · 0 warning · 0 info — scanner v5 — 10/3/2026

View 15 scanner checks

live_secretremote_code_executionreverse_shelldata_exfiltrationssrf_metadataagent_snoopinganti_refusaldestructive_commandsobfuscated_unicodeunicode_homoglyphopaque_blobsuspicious_urltool_overreachtrigger_abuseprompt_injection_phrasing

IntentSafe

LLM judge · does the skill do what it claims

ContentClean

LLM judge · policy & harmful-content review

Source

Imported

waynesutton / convexskills

skills/avoid-feature-creep/SKILL.md

View on GitHub ↗

License Apache-2.0Imported 10/3/2026Version v2Bundled 2 files

Other skills for the same job

Published skills whose descriptions closely match this one, with their headline benchmark lift.

adityapeshave-sophos/stay-in-laneBefore making changes, verifies they match what was actually requested. Catches scope creep before it happens - no "while I'm here" improvements. Use when about to modify files, add features, or refactor code beyond what the user asked for.Close match+32 pp pass-rate lift

More skills from the same source and nearby in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.

Ready to supercharge your AI agents?

See it in action

What's inside

Avoid feature creep

The core rule

Signals that creep is starting

What to do instead

Stakeholders, including agents

Track record

Benchmark

Adoption

SkillSafety

Source

Other skills for the same job

Related skills