noun, verb — 2 senses
/ˈkʌstəm ˈsnoʊˌbɔl/
Etymology From custom + snowball, referencing the snowball effect, where a rolling snowball gathers mass and momentum. Coined to describe how a small deviation from a standard process gathers complexity.
Business, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences, Software Slang A cascading chain reaction in which a single non-standard feature, modification, or workaround forces the creation of subsequent custom solutions to maintain compatibility, ultimately resulting in disproportionate complexity and technical debt.
Etymology From custom + snowball, referencing the snowball effect, where a rolling snowball gathers mass and momentum. Coined to describe how a small deviation from a standard process gathers complexity.
To rapidly increase in complexity due to cascading custom requirements.
Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.