The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):

creeping featurism
 /kree'ping fee?chr?izm/, n.

    [common]

    1. Describes a systematic tendency to load more chrome and features
    onto systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed
    when originally designed. See also feeping creaturism. ?You know, the
    main problem with BSD Unix has always been creeping featurism.?

    2. More generally, the tendency for anything complicated to become even
    more complicated because people keep saying ?Gee, it would be even better
    if it had this feature too?. (See feature.) The result is usually a
    patchwork because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being
    planned. Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one extra
    little feature to help someone ... and then another ... and another....
    When creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's like a cancer. The GNU hello
    program, intended to illustrate GNU command-line switch and coding
    conventions, is also a wonderful parody of creeping featurism; the
    distribution changelog is particularly funny. Usually this term is used to
    describe computer programs, but it could also be said of the federal
    government, the IRS 1040 form, and new cars. A similar phenomenon sometimes
    afflicts conscious redesigns; see second-system effect. See also 
    creeping elegance.


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

creeping featurism
feature creep

    /kree'ping fee'chr-izm/ (Or "feature creep") A
   systematic tendency to load more chrome and features onto
   systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have
   possessed when originally designed.  "The main problem with
   BSD Unix has always been creeping featurism."

   More generally, creeping featurism is the tendency for
   anything to become more complicated because people keep saying
   "Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature too".
   The result is usually a patchwork because it grew one ad-hoc
   step at a time, rather than being planned.  Planning is a lot
   of work, but it's easy to add just one extra little feature to
   help someone, and then another, and another, ....  When
   creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's like a cancer.

   Usually this term is used to describe computer programs, but
   it could also be said of the federal government, the IRS 1040
   form, and new cars.  A similar phenomenon sometimes afflicts
   conscious redesigns; see second-system effect.  See also
   creeping elegance.

   [Jargon File]

   (1997-08-03)