The scope was my decision

I opened the UI and started counting the if-statements.

I'd approved what seemed like a straightforward access fix.

A user needed access to information the application wasn't showing them. My coding assistant suggested restoring that access and adding a read-only mode.

Sounded reasonable. I said yes.

The result:

Conditional rendering everywhere. Disabled controls across eight screens. More branches to maintain, more states to test, more opportunities for two parts of the interface to disagree.

An impressive amount of code for something nobody had asked for.

I went back to the original requirement.

The user needed access. That was it.

So I removed the read-only behaviour and kept the access fix.

The assistant had proposed a broader solution, and I'd approved it. The scope was my decision.

The code worked. That wasn't enough reason to keep it.