The Feature Request Trap: When to Build a Capability

## The Big Idea A feature answers the request in front of you. A capability answers the requests you haven't gotten yet. Knowing which to build is a skill - and most of us learn it the hard way. ## The feature request that was really a capability At [Craftwork](https://craftwork.com), we visit some sales leads in person before we quote their project. I'd just built a map view of our leads, and the team was using it. Then a request came in: could the map highlight leads with on-site visits _this week_? Clear, specific, and worth building. But I could already hear the next request: _this week and next?_ Then: _on-sites, plus good candidates for next week?_ The request wasn't wrong. People describe the pain in front of them. Designing the system underneath is my team's role. ## When your endpoint name reads like a sentence Building exactly what was asked would have looked like this: ```ts const leads = api .v1 .leads .highlight .scheduledOnSiteVisitsThisWeek(); ``` You probably winced.…