Scrum Terminology: What is the Difference Between a New Feature and an Enhancement? [closed]

Question

The main thing I'm trying to answer is this: What are the distinguishing features between a "new feature" and a "product enhancement" when it comes to software development? Specifically, when applied to Scrum.

Here are some possible criteria that come to mind:

1. The complexity of the request (points)
2. How independent the final result will be from other parts of the application (e.g., adding a field to form vs adding a whole new form)

The other possibility is that I'm thinking about this all wrong and there's better, clearer terminology that should be used.

Answer 1

I guess this cannot be answered in a generally accepted way. However this is how I would put it:

A feature is new functionality i.e. a user can do something new with the software. An enhancement makes doing something that was possible before simpler, more powerful or adds somehow to existing functionality.

Answer 2

+1 for Christian's answer. Another way to look at it is:

When the initial "new" feature is delivered to the customer or product owner; do they come back with a bunch of requests to modify the feature? Do they report a number of "defects" against the feature that arose because the initial feature story(s) were not fully documented?

These are enhancement requests to existing functionality and in Scrum would be considered enhancement backlogs or stories. If the request describes new value to the customer that was not captured in the initial feature story(s) it is not tech debt, or a defect; it is an enhancement.

If you are using an enhancement story to address scope change or make a case for additional resources:

High level Agile planning usually results in a product roadmap of sorts with feature level milestones (aka should be feature complete in a given quarter, release, etc); any other stories that modify that feature area after the feature complete date or production release of the feature can be considered enhancement requests.