AIWorkDex
Product Practice

Review whether to keep, simplify, retire, or investigate a feature

Make a feature decision with measured use, user dependency, maintenance, contracts, and migration risk visible.

Preparation
An evidence review followed by dependency and migration checks.
Difficulty
Advanced
Task
Review an unused product feature
Back to the Task: Review an unused product feature

Before you start

Get what you need before you start

  • Bring the feature definition, instrumented events, support records, known users, contracts, integrations, maintenance work, and accountable owner.
  • Confirm that the analytics definition and collection remain valid for this review.

Steps

Work through the method

Use the listed inputs and tools. Check the evidence when you need to verify a step.

  1. Audit measured use and its limits

    Define the feature from reviewed events, inspect adoption and frequency, and document missing platforms, untracked paths, shared accounts, and occasional critical use.

    Why it matters: Measured use can inform the review only when its coverage and definitions are visible.

    Input
    The feature definition, tracked events, active-user definition, and data quality notes.
    Output
    A feature-use summary with coverage gaps and affected cohorts.
    Tools in this stepAmplitude

    Evidence for this step

  2. Check dependency and removal evidence

    Review direct user dependency, support cases, contracts, accessibility, integrations, data, maintenance, security, and migration needs. Contact affected users when records cannot explain critical use.

    Why it matters: Low measured use can coexist with high dependency or difficult removal.

    Input
    The use summary, product records, contracts, support evidence, and integration map.
    Output
    A dependency and removal-risk record with named owners.
    Tools in this step

    Evidence for this step

  3. Record the feature decision

    Choose keep, simplify, retire, or investigate. Record the evidence, contrary cases, maintenance effect, customer communication, migration plan, reversibility, and review trigger.

    Why it matters: A safe decision must explain how present users and future product cost were considered.

    Input
    The use summary, dependency review, and authorised decision.
    Output
    A dated feature decision with communication, migration, and follow-up owners.
    Tools in this step

    Evidence for this step

Success checks

Check the result before you finish

  • The decision states the analytics coverage and gaps.
  • Direct dependencies, contracts, integrations, and migration needs have owners.
  • The communication and review trigger match the chosen action.

Failure modes

Watch for these problems

  • Do not retire a feature from adoption data alone.
  • Investigate further when occasional critical use remains plausible.
  • Pause removal when a contractual, accessibility, safety, data, or integration obligation is unresolved.

Tools

Choose the tools you need

Sources

Read the sources behind this practice

Check what each source supports and where the advice has limits.