In the example below, I’m looking for a suitable synonym for nice-to-have. I’m specifically looking for an appropriate noun replacement; do we actually have such a thing in English?
Maintenance shouldn’t be a ‘nice-to-have’ but an all-important necessity.
When contrasting with "necessity", Doug's option is a typical contrast.
Maintenance shouldn't be an option, but an all-important necessity.
Another contrast tends to be luxury.
Maintenance shouldn't be a luxury, but an all-important necessity.
Bonus carries the non-essential nature of what you're after. Maybe "bonus feature", or "added bonus".
nicety [nahy-si-tee] –dictionary.com
- Usually, niceties. a refined, elegant, or choice feature, as of manner or living: working hard to acquire the niceties of life.
Maintenance is not a nicety, it's an all-important necessity.
Maintenance shouldn't be an extra.
extra n.
- an additional feature.
extra n
- Something more than is usual or necessary
{AHDEL; same link}
I think the word "option" fits nicely in place of "nice-to-have". This sense of "option" is defined by Merriam-Webster as "an item that is offered in addition to or in place of standard equipment".
I suppose you're trying to give parts of speech to the MosCow categories: Must have, Should have, Could have, Would have.
As adjectives, the closest I can think of are:
'a must-have' - adj: necessary/obligatory/requisite, n: necessity/obligation/requisite
'a should-have' - adj: recommended, n:recommendation
'a could-have' or 'a nice-to-have' - adj:possible/desirable, n:possibility/desire
'a would-have' - adj:allowable/disposable/unnecessary n:??
And you can make nouns more easily out of these as you please.
The modals don't correspond as cognates to any nouns or adjectives.
Having had many conversations like this between business and technical teams, we often use this phrasing:
"Maintenance is a need, not a want."
It gets the point across in a concise sentence. Another way of saying it:
"Maintenance is a hard requirement."
I would probably use this form myself actually.
This type of phrasing is used extensively in these types of environments, not sure how common it is in "the rest of the world" so to speak.
"Maintenance shouldn’t be a choice, but an all-important necessity."
choice (noun) "a range of things that can be chosen" MW
- Given the choice, I'd rather stay home tonight.
- They gave me a choice between an automatic or standard transmission.
- There is a wide range of choices.
- Other choices on the menu looked equally tempting.
Nice-to-have is used to describe things near the end of a list of priorities that would be "nice to have", but are only worth pursuing if you end up having surplus resources after completing all of the higher-priority "need-to-haves". This term only works in a context where you're uncertain about exactly how much of your budgeted resources will be spent on the more important goals, so it's possible that those extraneous goals could also be met. If you could be more certain about exact costs, these terms wouldn't come into play at all.
Another term for a very similar concept is stretch goal, especially popular lately due to its use in crowd funding terminology. These are goals beyond the minimum requirement which add value to the final product of the project, but aren't necessary to achieve viability for the project.
If you don't object to a Latin loanword, desideratum may offer what you are looking for. It can be found in virtually any good English dictionary.
Add-on would work with either a change in word order:
"Maintenance (or safety/security) is an all-important necessity, and [therefore] should not be an add-on";
or a change in word choice:
"Maintenace (or safety/security) shouldn't be an add-on, but standard equipment/an [all-important] integrated feature.
"add-on"/noun/b: = "something ... that enhances the thing it is added to" (i.word/i.dictionary)
As in: 'Maintenance shouldn’t be seen as 'window-dressing' but as an all-important necessity."
From Merriam-Webster:
These changes are being made for a good reason. They're not just window dressing.
This is a more idiomatic choice than the answers so far.
Lots of great words here already. A few more ideas:
nonessential (noun or adj)
incidental (noun or adj)
icing on the cake (noun, but doesn't take an article)
side dish (noun, needs an article)
frill (noun, need the article)
discretionary or discretional or left up to your discretion (adj)
left up to individual taste (adj)
just the flavor of the day (noun)
facultative (adj)
noncompulsory (noun or adj, but usually an adj)
take-it-or-leave-it (coined, but then so was nice-to-have)
Since you're not specifically asking for a single-word solution, here's an alternative that, especially in the software world, nicely groups the nice-to-have items:
From dictionary.reference.com:
plural noun
additional features or accessories which are nonessential but very attractive: my car has all the latest bells and whistles
additions, such as options or warranties, made to a financial product to increase its market appeal
As a plural noun, it may not fit your purposes exactly if you're looking for a single term to describe a single nice-to-have item, but you could always say, "Maintenance shouldn't be one of the bells and whistles, but an all-important necessity."
I would go with Could Have (when you can), or Possibility when you can't. Below is an example of what I do.
When doing requirements gathering I use a MoSCoW Document.
Must Have - You have to have to to be considered done
Should Have - If there is any way possible, this should really be there too.
Could Have - (This is your nice to have category) If there is any budget left do these things
Won't Have - Not going to be included in this iteration, but is not precluded in future iterations.
An example:
M - A car must have 4 wheels.
S - A car should have a windshield
C - A car could have a 6 disk CD changer
W - A car won't have seat warmers
All that being said, the "answer" is "Could Have". "Nice to Have" is perfectly legit though. Generally the main problem with "nice to have" is the sense of entitlement that it bestows. For example if your pay $1,000 you should at least get some nice things. By using "Could Have" you change that "possibilities" and not "niceties". The main point being that it's what surrounds the "nice to have" that is important.
In your example, "Maintenance shouldn’t be a ‘possibility’ but an all-important necessity."
"Luxury" or "convenience"
Maintenance is not a mere convenience, but a necessity.
Luxury is similar, but stressed the optional nature of the thing. You REALLY don't need a luxury, but might want it. A convenience is more on the level of "nice to have".
Could I interest you in an adjective? In fact, 'nice-to-have' is already an adjective used substantively.* That is, it modifies a (vaguely) implied noun, just like slothful in this passage from Proverbs 24 about people who consider maintenance merely nice to have:
I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding, and lo, it was all grown over with thorns.
Implied nouns in situations like these are usually pretty vague and don't add much to the meaning, which is why people prefer to omit them. In your sentence, the implied noun is something like 'thing', and in the passage from Proverbs, it's something like 'man' or 'person' or 'people'.
Regardless of the part of speech, it sounds like what you want is a modifier for 'maintenance'. So here are some options:
Maintenance isn't just nice, it's necessary.
Maintenance isn't merely nice to have, it's a necessity.
Maintenance isn't optional, it's mandatory.
Maintenance isn't nice, it's necessary.
I find the last one the most forceful, but of course your exact word choice should depend on exactly what you what to say, what connotations you want to evoke, and where you want to place the emphasis. The last one implies that maintenance is an unpleasant chore: maybe you want to empathize with the reader's dislike of maintenance, or maybe you'd rather not suggest that at all.
If you really want a noun, you could make the implied noun explicit. This suggests a stronger verb than 'have':
Maintenance isn't merely a nice thing to do, it's a necessity.
*A compound adjective containing a noun and an infinitive verb, but let's not split hairs.
