Feature Sunsets: Design the Exit Before You Build

Features don’t just ship — they stick. This episode argues that durable product thinking includes a clear, short sunset contract at conception: who can retire it, how to measure viability, what minimal migration or rollback looks like, and who owns the long tail. Mirko contrasts the business impulse to preserve options with IT’s experience of accumulating hidden maintenance, and he reads a compact, generalized vignette where a conveniently permanent feature cost months of work and morale. Listeners get a practical one-page Sunset Contract template, three low-friction rituals to try this week (sunset field in every PR, a 90-day viability checkpoint, and an automated sunset alarm), and a simple 7-day experiment to map the top five features most likely to become long-term drag. The episode is practical, tool-agnostic, and designed for leaders who prefer clear decisions over hopeful assumptions. CTA: run the 7-day map, pilot one Sunset Contract, and leave a review.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/business-it-it-business--6867401/support.To continue the conversation, follow Mirko Peters on LinkedIn, where more insights and real-world examples are shared from both business and IT perspectives.