Over the years, there’s a phrase we’ve kept coming back to when building products:

“Don’t build the Homer.”

It comes from The Simpsons, when Homer gets the chance to design his dream car. Given the freedom to ask for everything he wants, he creates a ridiculous vehicle packed with features—and ends up with something nobody wants to buy.

It’s funny on screen. It’s expensive when we do it in real life.

One more feature…

Most products don’t start out looking like the Homer. They start with a clear idea and a real problem to solve.

Then the suggestions arrive.

“Could we add this?”
“A competitor has that.”
“One customer asked for it.”
“While we’re here, let’s make it configurable.”

Each request might sound reasonable on its own. But put them all together, and the product slowly loses its shape. The simple workflow becomes complicated. The interface needs more explanations. The team spends more time maintaining options than improving the experience.

Nobody deliberately set out to build the Homer. They just kept saying yes.

Think before you build

Before adding something, we should be able to answer a few simple questions:

  • Who needs this?
  • What problem does it solve?
  • How do we know that problem matters?
  • Could we solve it more simply?
  • What complexity will this add for everyone else?

These questions don’t have to turn every decision into a month of research. Sometimes a conversation, a sketch, or a small prototype is enough to challenge an assumption before it becomes an expensive commitment.

The point is to give ourselves a moment to think before the excitement of building takes over.

Knowing what to leave out

Good product work requires judgment. A feature can be useful and still not belong in your product. A customer request can be valid without being the right priority. An idea can be clever without making anyone’s life easier.

Saying “not now” takes discipline. So does removing something you’ve already spent time building.

But that’s how a product stays focused on the people it’s meant to serve.

We’ll keep saying it: don’t build the Homer.

Before we ask, “Can we build this?” let’s take a moment to ask, “Should we?” 😊