Dharmesh Shah
One In, One Out
Inspired by Dharmesh Shah episode
Dharmesh Shah's rule: 'one in, one out' for features. Want to add something? Remove something first. Same rule saves your kid's toy chaos.
Dharmesh Shah runs HubSpot with one rule: before adding a new feature, you must identify an old feature to deprecate. One in, one out. Keeps the product from bloating.
Your living room has no deprecation strategy. Every birthday ships five new features. Every holiday, more features. Grandparents are rogue developers pushing directly to production. The toy collection isn't a product anymore—it's a landfill with a rug.
Before the new toy arrives, one old toy leaves. Birthday coming? Five toys get donated. It's not cruelty, it's curation. It's the difference between a product people use and a product people abandon because they can't find anything.
The rule creates surprisingly deep negotiations. Which toy matters less than this new one? Nothing? Then maybe we don't need the new one. One in, one out. It works for SaaS products. It works for toys shaped like tractors.
