Overengineering, or over-engineering, is the act of

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

ing a product or providing a solution to a

problem Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...

that is complicated in a way that provides no value or could have been designed to be simpler. It has been employed intentionally in situations where an exceptionally wide

margin of error The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in the results of a Statistical survey, survey. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one should have that a poll result would reflect the result of ...

is desired, but is otherwise considered an error of design due to the disproportionate time and resources needed to manufacture and maintain such products, as well as the introduction of unneeded single points of failure. As a design philosophy, it is a violation of the practice of

value engineering Value engineering (VE) is a systematic analysis of the functions of various components and materials to lower the cost of goods, products and services with a tolerable loss of performance or functionality. Value, as defined, is the ratio of func ...

and the minimalist ethos of "

less is more Less is more is a principle found in several traditions. Its basic meaning is to keep things simple, similar to the concept of minimalism. Its use in architecture emerges from the idea that simplicity and clarity lead to good design. The concept i ...

" or " worse is better", as well as the related

KISS principle KISS, an acronym for "Keep it simple, stupid!", is a design principle first noted by the U.S. Navy in 1960. First seen partly in American English by at least 1938, KISS implies that simplicity should be a design goal. The phrase has been associate ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

listed excessive features as one of the top 10 risks of failure for development projects, and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

developed and removed 600 non-essential features from their cars due to malfunctions, lack of usability and customer complaints.

Characteristics

Overengineering is often identified with design choices that increase

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

, add functionality, or overcome a perceived design flaw that most users would not notice or would accept. It can be hard to avoid when safety or performance is critical (e.g. in

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

vehicles and luxury road vehicles), or when extremely broad functionality is required (e.g. diagnostic and medical tools,

power users A power user is a user of computers, software and other electronic devices who uses advanced features of computer hardware, operating systems, programs, or websites which are not used by the average user. A power user might not have extensive tech ...

of products). Overengineering often occurs in high-end products and specialized markets. A product may be ''overbuilt'' with performance far in excess of expected normal operation such as a city car with top speed of 300 km/h, or a home video recorder with a lifespan of 100 years. Such products may be more expensive, bulkier, and heavier than necessary. A product may be ''overcomplicated'' with functions that are not necessary, and reduce the

usability Usability can be described as the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which a softw ...

of the product by overwhelming

users Ancient Egyptian roles * User (ancient Egyptian official), an ancient Egyptian nomarch (governor) of the Eighth Dynasty * Useramen, an ancient Egyptian vizier also called "User" Other uses * User (computing), a person (or software) using an ...

which is sometimes called feature fatigue. Sometimes overengineering occurs over time in the form of

feature creep Feature creep is the excessive ongoing expansion or addition of new features in a product, especially in computer software, video games (where it should not be confused with power creep) and consumer and business electronics. These extra feature ...

. Overengineering can decrease the

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

of a development team because even though the team produces product, the value realized might be less than if the team was producing only what the user needs and wants. Overengineering can consist of premature optimization, potentially to the detriment of the project due to

diminishing returns In economics, diminishing returns means the decrease in marginal (incremental) output of a production process as the amount of a single factor of production is incrementally increased, holding all other factors of production equal ('' ceter ...

on time and effort invested in the design process.

Cultural references

A story about very precise engineering is given in the 1858 story '' The Deacon's Masterpiece or, the Wonderful "One-hoss Shay": A Logical Story'' by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., which tells of a carriage ( one-horse shay)

That was built in such a logical way It ran a hundred years to a day, And then, ... went to pieces all at once, -- All at once, and nothing first, -- Just as bubbles do when they burst.

Because it had been engineered so that no single piece failed first – no piece was over-engineered relative to the others, and they thus all collapsed at the same time. A similar quote by

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was a German automotive engineering, automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche, Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first Petrol engine, gasoline–Electric motor, el ...

claimed "the perfect

race car Race, RACE or The Race may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

crosses the finish line in first place and immediately falls into pieces."

Examples

German Second World War weapons, like the famous

Tiger I The Tiger I () was a Nazi Germany, German heavy tank of World War II that began operational duty in 1942 in North African Campaign, Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent German heavy tank battalion, heavy tank battalions. It g ...

tank or

Panther tank The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated Pz.Kpfw. V) with Sonderkraftfahrzeug, ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used in most European theatre of ...

, have been listed as examples of over-engineering, in comparison to their Soviet rivals such as the

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, ...

. German arms allegedly used expensive materials and excessively labour-intensive production processes, limiting production and making them hard to repair when they broke down in the field. Another example is Juicero, a wi-fi "smart" juicing press with an initial market price of $699. After its release,

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...

published a story that showed that the juice packs could be squeezed by hand faster than the press, and that hand-squeezing produced juice that was near-indistinguishable in quality and quantity from the output of the machine, which cost $400 even after a price reduction. In 2024, former technical director and chair of Network Rail High Speed Andrew McNaughton stated to the Transport Committee that HS2 was overengineered in respect of bridge foundations and masts.

References

Sources

External links