Feature interaction - A problem or a fact of life?

The feature interaction problem occurs when a system grows by the addition of features. in these conditions, a feature that works properly by itself, may produce unexpected and unwanted interactions when it has to work with others. The problem is often discussed as if it were a single problem, and addressed in the domain of communication networks. We show that it is not a single coherent problem for which an overall solution can be expected. Feature interaction also occurs in the domain of human activity. An examination of how we deal with it produces some ideas that can be transferred to the domain of communication networks. The application of these ideas to feature interaction in communication networks is outlined.