What challenge is often encountered with the Incremental Development process?

The Incremental Development process allows for iterative releases of software, enabling teams to add functionalities in manageable segments. While this approach has many advantages, one challenge commonly faced is the degradation of system structure over time.

As new features are added incrementally, developers might prioritize immediate functionality over adhering to initial architectural principles. This can lead to a situation where the codebase becomes increasingly complex and harder to maintain. Without careful management and refactoring, the overall design integrity of the software can weaken, making it difficult to implement future changes efficiently. This can result in technical debt, where the cost of later modifications rises because of a deteriorating underlying structure, ultimately affecting maintainability and scalability.

The other options present potential issues but do not encapsulate the systematic concern that arises specifically from the incremental nature of the development process, making the challenge of system structure degradation particularly salient in this context.