Deleting features is shipping

I removed three features from Wayform last week. No one noticed. The product got better.

We celebrate adding features. The launch post, the changelog. Nobody celebrates removal. But every feature I deleted made Wayform easier to explain, and the codebase smaller.

How I decide what to cut: I look at usage data first. Anything under 5% engagement for more than a month is a candidate. Then I ask whether the feature needs explanation. If I have to tell users what it does, it's not pulling its weight.

The hard part is overcoming the sunk cost. I built this. It took time. Deleting it feels like waste. But keeping a feature nobody uses is the real waste. It costs my attention to maintain it, and the user's attention to navigate around it. Every feature in the product is a decision the user has to make, even if the decision is to ignore it.

I want to build a product where everything earns its place. If a feature can't justify itself through usage, it goes. The space it leaves becomes room for something that matters.